The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership(TTIP) currently under negotiation between the US and the EU has been billed as a free trade deal. And indeed, for the last couple of hundred years it has been clear that free trade has led to economic growth and its associated human prosperity. But the TTIP has given rise to much community opposition suggesting that the economic gains from trade are not the end of the story.
Rather, the controversy surrounding the deal underscores the tensions that exist between the notion of free trade on one hand and sustainability and other social outcomes on the other. Of particular concern (and relevance to this blog) is the potential of the TTIP to roll back environment protections and food standards – two key legislative measures aimed generally at achieving sustainability.
In the twenty-first century, with global tariff barriers at very low levels, “modern” free-trade agreements are refocusing their priorities toward “trade irritants”. Investment protections, such as provisions for Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms and behind the border issues – essentially regulatory matters traditionally the responsibility of national legislators and courts – are now the key targets for “liberalization”. So the question is really: who benefits from such agreements?
The TTIP has been described as a “corporate bill of rights” by its critics who see it as an instrument to enhance the profitability of multinationals. They suggest that the public has little to gain from the “partnership” – an initiative of the Transatlantic Economic Council whose raison d’etre is “reducing regulations to empower the private sector”. Whatever the merits of this argument, the EC has done little to prosecute the case that the deal serves the public interest.
While the EC helpfully reminds us that “free trade is a source of economic growth” the public seems unconvinced and the secrecy surrounding the negotiations has served only to entrench skepticism. In May this year, 250 people were arrested protesting against the TTIP in Brussels. More recently, the EC was recently inundated with over 150,000 submissions to its “consultation” about including an ISDS in the treaty. And in response to public pressure, the European Ombudsman has opened investigations into the EU Council and Commission over the lack of transparency regarding the negotiations.
So now the EC has embarked on a transparency offensive – a recent factsheet is titled “The TTIP: We’re listening and engaging”. And after six rounds of negotiations the EC is now publishing its negotiating position and has put the contentious discussion of on ISDS on hold pending public consultation. (It has 150,000 perspectives to assess!)
Although the secrecy surrounding the deal means that the specific behind the border issues that it addresses are uncertain, its aim is to “harmonize” regulations and “mutually recognize” standards. This implies something like a race to the bottom. For instance, European regulation on the labelling of genetically modified organisms and bans on hormone-treated beef and pork are threatened by the TTIP. As are moratoria or bans on fracking (high-volume hydraulic fracturing to extract unconventional fossil fuels) instituted under the precautionary principle.
The ISDS is especially troubling because it would elevate corporations to legal equivalence with nation-states. ISDS have been shown to exert a “chilling” effect on domestic legislators – sometimes the mere threat of a claim is enough for legislation to be abandoned or watered down. According to the Transnational Institute:
“The [TTIP] proposal follows a persistent campaign by industry lobby groups and law firms to empower large companies to challenge regulations both at home and abroad if they affect their profits. As a result, EU member states could soon find domestic laws to protect the public interest challenged in secretive, offshore tribunals where national laws have no weight and politicians no powers to intervene”.
Notably, a Swedish company, Vattenfall is suing Germany under the Energy Charter Treaty – which includes investment protection measures – over Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear energy power plants (for €3.7 billion).
The EC comforts us with ideas about how “modern” trade agreements include many non-tariff issues which “strengthen the EU’s rules-based system” meaning “that trade and investment are protected and can thrive”. Yet according to its website the “EU has some of the world’s highest environmental standards, developed over decades”. Such a situation did not come about by accident but through deliberative democratic processes. The public seems disinclined to sacrifice these environmental standards in favor of the economic benefits that might flow from creating the world’s biggest trade bloc.
- Products & Solutions (100)
- Trends & Technology (99)
- News & Updates (68)
- Challenges (67)
- Sustainability (49)
- life cycle assessment (44)
- Energy efficiency (30)
- Compliance (28)
- circular economy (23)
- carbon footprint (22)
- echa (21)
- LCA (19)
- Resource efficiency (19)
- SCIP (19)
- Umberto (18)
- Material flow cost accounting (15)
- material flow analysis (13)
- Renewable energy (11)
- material efficiency (11)
- Process Optimization (10)
- environmental product declaration (9)
- Ecodesign (8)
- Efficiency (8)
- Trends (8)
- Customer driven-sustainability (7)
- Eco label (7)
- Ipoint suite (7)
- Lca databases (7)
- Supply chain (7)
- Survey (7)
- Sustainable development (7)
- blockchain (7)
- Renewable heat (6)
- automotive (6)
- research (6)
- China (5)
- Corporate carbon footprint (5)
- Digitalization (5)
- Materialflusskostenrechnung (5)
- carbon footprinting (5)
- digital product passport (5)
- waste management (5)
- Chemical industry (4)
- Climate protection (4)
- Cobalt reporting (4)
- OECD (4)
- Okobilanzierung (4)
- Sustainable transport (4)
- carbon neutrality (4)
- construction industry (4)
- germany (4)
- Big Data (3)
- Brexit (3)
- Conflict minerals (3)
- Corporate Social Responsibility (3)
- Database (3)
- Due diligence (3)
- Environmental product declarations (3)
- Eutrophication (3)
- IFEU (3)
- ISO 50001 (3)
- Leed (3)
- Medical device (3)
- Photovoltaics (3)
- Ressourceneffizienz (3)
- Social media (3)
- building sector (3)
- carbon neutral (3)
- greenhouse gas inventory (3)
- transport sector (3)
- water footprint (3)
- 20-20-20 Objectives (2)
- 3D printing (2)
- BASF (2)
- Christian-Doppler-Laboratory (2)
- Conflict minerals reporting (2)
- Cycling (2)
- E-car (2)
- Environmental impact (2)
- Environmental management (2)
- Environmental performance (2)
- Fish (2)
- Gate to gate (2)
- Global warming (2)
- Governance (2)
- Green business 2 (2)
- Green investment (2)
- Human rights (2)
- Inatba (2)
- Integrated reporting (2)
- Integrative approach (2)
- Knowledge economy (2)
- MFA (2)
- Okobilanz (2)
- Renewable Resources (2)
- Sdgs (2)
- Software (2)
- Steady state economy (2)
- Sustainable business (2)
- Sustainable lifestyle (2)
- UK REACH (2)
- Umberto for carbon footprint (2)
- Umweltbundesamt (2)
- agriculture (2)
- best practice (2)
- biodiversity (2)
- biomass (2)
- building standards (2)
- carbon intensity (2)
- carbon relocation (2)
- collaborative consumption (2)
- consistency (2)
- corporate material flow modeling (2)
- cost savings (2)
- developing world (2)
- eLCAr (2)
- energiewende (2)
- energy (2)
- esankey (2)
- food industry (2)
- green jobs (2)
- holistic approach (2)
- milk (2)
- modern slavery (2)
- okobilanzdaten (2)
- productivity (2)
- resilience (2)
- sankey diagram (2)
- seafood (2)
- transport (2)
- 2012 (1)
- 3 scopes (1)
- ACHEMA (1)
- AI (1)
- Abfallwirtschaft (1)
- Ankara (1)
- B2B (1)
- BMBF (1)
- BREEAM (1)
- Bachelor program (1)
- Bauwesen (1)
- Brazil (1)
- CFC (1)
- CO2-Fußabdruck (1)
- Central america (1)
- Circular Economy Action Plan (1)
- Comparative life cycle assessment (1)
- Composite indicator (1)
- Construction (1)
- Consumer goods (1)
- Consumption (1)
- Country Attractiveness (1)
- Creative sustainability (1)
- Csr report (1)
- Data (1)
- Data collection (1)
- Davos (1)
- Decarbonization (1)
- Denmark (1)
- Design (1)
- Deutschland (1)
- Developing countries (1)
- Dienstleistungen (1)
- Distributed manufacturing (1)
- Domestic sector (1)
- Earth Sciences (1)
- Earth summit (1)
- Ecolabelling (1)
- Ecological resilience (1)
- Efficiency measures (1)
- Effizienzfabrik (1)
- Ehs (1)
- Emission relocation (1)
- Ems (1)
- Energieeffizienz (1)
- Energy Intensity by Sector (1)
- Engineering excellence (1)
- Environmental Contracting (1)
- Environmental Engineering (1)
- Environmental capital (1)
- Environmentally Weighed Material Consumption (1)
- European Comission (1)
- European Green Cars Initiative (1)
- Evaleau (1)
- Events (1)
- External effects (1)
- Fifa (1)
- Fmd (1)
- Food footprint (1)
- Food production (1)
- Ford (1)
- Forest ecosystems (1)
- Free trade (1)
- Freighter travel (1)
- GHG mitigation (1)
- Ghg reduction goals (1)
- Global compact (1)
- Global justice (1)
- Green business models (1)
- Green consumers (1)
- Green deal (1)
- Green new deal (1)
- Happy life years (1)
- Harze (1)
- Hdpe (1)
- Human development index (1)
- Human trafficking (1)
- ILCD Handbook (1)
- IPCC (1)
- ISO 14015 (1)
- ISO 14031 (1)
- ISO 14064 (1)
- ISO 14067 (1)
- ISO-14000 (1)
- ISO-14008 (1)
- ISO-14025 (1)
- ISO-14046 (1)
- Impact category (1)
- Incentive (1)
- Industry-4-0 (1)
- Information design (1)
- Input output (1)
- Input output economics (1)
- Intellectual property (1)
- Iso 14001 (1)
- Klimawandel (1)
- Kuznets curve (1)
- LIFE AskREACH (1)
- Lieferkettengesetz (1)
- Life cycle analysis (1)
- Life cycle perspective (1)
- Linkedin (1)
- Living planet report (1)
- Long-Term Pay (1)
- Material consumption (1)
- Material flow modeling (1)
- Material flowcosts (1)
- Material footprint (1)
- Mexico (1)
- Monetize external costs (1)
- Montreal Protocol (1)
- Natural Cost Accounting (1)
- Nature conservation (1)
- Nitrate pollution (1)
- Nutrients cycle (1)
- Okobilanzdatenbanken (1)
- Okolabelling (1)
- Okologischer fusabdruck (1)
- Online Resource Efficiency Platform OREP (1)
- Operational efficiency (1)
- Pas (1)
- Pcf (1)
- Philippines (1)
- Pilot program (1)
- Plastic industry (1)
- Pollution haven hypothesis (1)
- Process improvement (1)
- Process system engineering (1)
- Product management (1)
- Product stewardship (1)
- Product sustainability (1)
- Production planning (1)
- Produktlebensdauer (1)
- Prop 65 (1)
- Protection proprietary data (1)
- Pvc (1)
- Qatar (1)
- Quality journalism (1)
- Rapid prototyping (1)
- Refuse derived fuel plant (1)
- Renewable methane (1)
- Renewable process heat (1)
- Retailer (1)
- Rio20 summit (1)
- Rolf Dobelli (1)
- Social ecological resilience (1)
- Solar thermal energy (1)
- Sorgfaltspflichtengesetz (1)
- South africa (1)
- Supermarket chain (1)
- Sustainability performance (1)
- Sustainability strategy (1)
- Sustainable architecture (1)
- Sustainable living (1)
- Sustainable resins (1)
- Sydney (1)
- System analysis (1)
- Telecommunications (1)
- Total material consumption (1)
- Treibhauspotenzial (1)
- Turkey (1)
- UK CA (1)
- University (1)
- VDMA (1)
- Vertical cooperation (1)
- Waste prevention (1)
- Wind power (1)
- World cup (1)
- World vegan day (1)
- Yet (1)
- Zero carbon city (1)
- academia (1)
- acidification (1)
- air quality (1)
- aluminum (1)
- amazon (1)
- antarctic ozone hole (1)
- apocalypse (1)
- apple (1)
- assessment (1)
- atmospheric carbon measurement (1)
- background database (1)
- battery change station (1)
- bike sharing (1)
- bio capacity (1)
- bio-economy (1)
- biocapacity (1)
- biological gas treatment (1)
- blogs (1)
- books (1)
- business opportunity (1)
- car (1)
- carbon emissions (1)
- carbon free city (1)
- carbon leakage (1)
- carbon management (1)
- carbon management 2 (1)
- carbon reduction (1)
- carbon tax (1)
- carbon-neutral travel (1)
- cargo shipping (1)
- carton (1)
- certification (1)
- change (1)
- climate impact (1)
- climate neutral (1)
- co2 fusabdruck (1)
- cogeneration (1)
- combined reporting (1)
- commons (1)
- cooperation along product (1)
- cradle to cradle (1)
- de-growth economy (1)
- digital battery passport (1)
- ecarus (1)
- eco design (1)
- ecoinvent (1)
- ecological tax reform (1)
- ecosystem disturbance (1)
- efficiency investment (1)
- efficient construction (1)
- energy efficiency in production (1)
- energy sources (1)
- environmental accounting (1)
- environmental impact data (1)
- environmental management system (1)
- environmental performance indicator (1)
- environmental technology verification (1)
- environmentally friendly raw materials (1)
- esg (1)
- fashion (1)
- food loss (1)
- food sector (1)
- gate-to-gate approach (1)
- geopolymer cement (1)
- green Christmas (1)
- green buildings (1)
- green paradox (1)
- green production (1)
- greenhouse (1)
- handprinting (1)
- holistic sustainability (1)
- lca-software (1)
- lcia (1)
- lifecycle (1)
- logitech (1)
- management models (1)
- material flow balance (1)
- material losses (1)
- material-flow-accounts (1)
- media (1)
- modeling (1)
- nuclear phase out (1)
- policy instruments (1)
- politics (1)
- post oil age (1)
- product environmental footprint (1)
- production circle (1)
- ressource efficiency analysis (1)
- saving potentials (1)
- scope 3 (1)
- season's greetings (1)
- smart meter (1)
- social cost accounting (1)
- stranded assets (1)
- sustainability control (1)
- sustainability projects (1)
- sustainable products (1)
- tajikistan (1)
- textile industry (1)
- textile refinement (1)
- toyota (1)
- trade (1)
- transport emissions (1)
- uk-rohs (1)
- umweltbilanz (1)
- urban carbon emissions (1)
- velib (1)
- volvo (1)
- waste air treatment (1)
- waste hierarchy (1)
- wastewater (1)
- water stress (1)
- wind gas (1)
- world statistics day (1)
- zero growth (1)
- Ökologischer Fußabdruck (1)