WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TE/W/74 
23 November 2009 
 
 (09-5826) 
Committee on Trade and Environment 
Special Session Original:   Spanish 
 
 
 
THE DOHA ROUND AND CLIMATE CHANGE 
 
Submission by Argentina  
 
Paragraph 31(iii) 
 
  The following communication, dated 20 November  2009, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of Argentina. 
 
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I. INTRODUCTION 
1. This communication is a contribution to the work taking place in the Committee on Trade and 
Environment in Special Session (CTESS) pursuant to  the mandate under paragraph 31(iii) of the Doha 
Ministerial Declaration, whereby the Members are to hold negotiations, without prejudging their outcome, on the reduction or, as appropriate, elim ination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to 
environmental goods and services. 
2. Climate change is one of the most pressing ch allenges faced by man.  The WTO negotiations 
to eliminate barriers to trade in environmental goods and services should therefore be aimed primarily 
at facilitating access to goods and services that are u sed in climate change mitigation and adaptation 
projects.  This would help to reduce the costs of  projects relating to action against climate change, 
which might help to stabilize greenhouse gas con centrations at a level that would prevent 
anthropogenic interference with the climate system. 
3. In this regard, WTO Director-General  Pascal Lamy stated the following: 
 " There is no doubt that an immediate contribution that the WTO can make to the fight against 
climate change is to indeed open markets to clean technology and services.  The Doha Round 
of trade negotiations offers an avenue for expande d access to products such as scrubbers, air 
filters and energy management services …  Launched within a broader context of the Doha 
Round's environmental chapter, the negotiations  on environmental goods and services could 
deliver a double-win for some of our Members.  A win for the environment and a win for trade ".
1 
 4. The 15
th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, 
which is to be held in Copenhage n in December 2009, will pave th e way for a new regime on climate 
                                                      
1 Part of a speech made by WTO Director-General  Pascal Lamy at the Informal Trade Ministers 
Dialogue on Climate Change held in Bali on 8-9 December 2007 (available at 
http://www.wto.org/english/news _e/sppl_e/sppl83_e.htm). TN/TE/W/74 
Page 2  
 
  change.  The work of the CTESS should therefor e be aimed at establishing synergies between the 
climate change regime and the multilateral trading system, so as to enhance mutual supportiveness 
between trade liberalization objectives, environm ental protection and sustainable development. 
5. Within this context, the purpose of the presen t communication is to develop the integrated 
approach proposed in previous communications
2, as the WTO's contribution to the climate change 
challenge. 
II. THE INTEGRATED APPROACH AND CLIMATE CHANGE 
6. The adoption of an integrated approach would be an opportunity for the results of the Doha 
Round to complement and support the objectives of the UN Framework Convention on Climate 
Change, thereby encouraging the implementation of  projects that use climate and energy friendly 
goods and technologies. 
7. The integrated approach could help to co mbat climate change if, as a result of the 
negotiations, the Members: 
 - Agree at multilateral level on "categories"  of environmental activities that are useful 
in combating climate change, e.g. renewable energy (solar energy, wind power, etc.);  
solid and hazardous waste manage ment;  and air pollution control3; 
  - in accordance with these "categories", identify the climate change mitigation and 
adaptation goods that could be used in national projects
4;  and 
  - proceed to reduce/eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers, when the goods in question 
are used in and for the duration of projects under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean 
Development Mechanism (CDM).
5  Such tariff reductions and/or elimination should 
be bound by WTO Members, in accordance with  the agreed level of reduction, taking 
into account special and differential treatmen t.  Such obligations may not be limited 
by virtue of the commitments assumed un der the WTO Agreement on Government 
Procurement. 
 8. The link between trade liberalization and CDM projects is outlined in the World Bank report 
entitled "International Trade and Climate Change:  Economic, Legal, and Ins titutional Perspectives", 
which states that " it may be desirable from a climate change mitigation perspective for 
                                                     
 
2 Submission by Argentina TN/TE/W/62 and submission by Argentina and India JOB(07)/77. 
3 This is consistent with the environmental categories and the benefits of the climate change mitigation 
and adaptation goods identified in the room document presented by the WTO Secretariat on 10 November 2009 entitled "Examples of Environmental Goods, Rationale/B enefits, Tariff and Non-Tari ff Barriers Drawn from the 
Presentations on the Various Sectors". 
4 Such goods may include wind turbines, solar water heaters, biogas production tanks, and methane 
collection liners. 
5 The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) allows the developed countries in Annex I of the Kyoto 
Protocol to buy certified reductions of emissions generated by emission limitation projects in developing countries not party to Annex I of the Protocol.  Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol states that " The purpose of the 
clean development mechanism shall be to assist Par ties not included in Annex I in achieving sustainable 
development and in contributing to th e ultimate objective of the Convention,  and to assist Parties included in 
Annex I in achieving compliance with their quantified emission limitation and redu ction commitments under 
Article 3 ".  TN/TE/W/74 
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  WTO negotiators to grant priority for products , technologies, and services imported for projects 
under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) ".6 
9. This link has also been refe rred to by the WTO Director-G eneral Pascal Lamy, who noted 
that, " The International Energy Agency has highlighted many trade barriers that stand in the way of 
the Clean Development Mechanism.  They include clean technologies that get stuck at the border, and 
which do not reach CDM projects on time, either because of tariffs, non-tariff barriers, or 
cumbersome customs procedures.  
 Let us join hands in addressing these barriers at the WTO.  All the CDM issues that I have 
mentioned are addressable through existing WTO rules and the current Doha mandate ".7 
 
10. The proposal to link the integrated approach with CDM projects would have the following 
benefits: 
 (i) It would encourage the direct use of goods the environmental objectives of which are 
climate change mitigation and adaptation, thus preventing dual or multiple usage and ensuring that liberalization effectively contributes to climatic improvement and 
sustainable development; 
  (ii) it would help to reduce the costs of setting up CDM projects and promote the transfer 
of technologies (e.g. those linked to renewable energy) to developing countries, thus facilitating the development of such countries' domestic capacity in the sector; 
 
 (iii) it would encourage public and private sectors to implement environmental projects, 
with a view to enhancing sustainable de velopment, particularly in developing 
countries; 
  (iv) existing national institu tional capacities would be used to implement CDM projects 
and projects would be adapted to each Member's situation in accordance with its 
particular circumstances and local needs; 
  (v) consistency with the Round's developmen t objectives and with mutual supportiveness 
between trade liberalization, environmenta l protection, and sustainable development.
8 
 
11. It is also considered necessary to develop e ffective technology transfer mechanisms within 
the WTO and to ensure special and differentia l treatment for developing countries in the 
implementation of the integrated approach.  These is sues merit special attention and will therefore be 
addressed in a follow-up communication. 
                                                      
6 World Bank, "International Trade and Climate Change:  Economic, Legal, and Institutional 
Perspectives", 2007, p. 91. 
7 Speech made by the WTO Director-General on 2 November 2009 at Carleton University in Ottawa 
(Canada) (available at http://workingserv er/english/news_e/sppl_e/sppl140_e.htm). 
8 Note, in this regard, India's submission TN/TE/W/67, paragraph 6:  " …  Members are entitled to rely 
upon the criteria relating to the end-uses of products in a given market, to that extent a product used for a 
specific environmental purpose could be distinguished from the same products used for a different purpose (reference can be made to the Border Tax Adjustment Report of the Working Party, adopted on 
2 December 1970, BISD 18 /S (1972) Para. 18)." TN/TE/W/74 
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  III. FINAL COMMENTS 
12. The Doha Round must contribute to tackling the issue of climate change by providing 
balanced, environmentally significant, and useful overall results, which can be used as a development 
tool for developing countries.  In this respect, "sustainable development" must be the underlying 
principle and logic guiding the current CTESS negotiations. 
13. The list approach favoured by some Members does not help to reduce the development gap 
between countries or respect the balance that shoul d be central to the negotiations, as, in such an 
approach, the logic of liberalization prevails over the logic of environmental protection.  In this 
context, we believe that the proposal outlined  above, centred on the relationship between the 
integrated approach and the fight against climat e change, could help to ensure progress in the 
CTESS negotiations and demonstrate the WTO Membership's commitment to tackling one of the 
most pressing challenges of our time - climate change. 
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