Environmental Prioritization beyond Sustainable Development
As COP30 runs into its second week, the negotiations and meetings on climate adaptation measures offer a sound reminder of how far-reaching environmental considerations tie into the global economy. Initiatives like the “Belém 4X” demonstrated the global commitment towards sustainable energy transition. However, as Brazilian President Lula rightly pointed out in his opening speech, “We are moving in the right direction, but at the wrong speed.” While the climate threats worsen with global warming, fairness and justice in international trade can only be achieved if impacts beyond trade are taken into account.
This balance of environmental considerations with economic growth is contained in concept of sustainable development – a guiding principle in international law since the Brundtland Commission’s 1987 and recently reaffirmed by the International Court of Justice in its Advisory Opinion. However, in the years leading up to the World Trade Organization, environmental considerations have taken a backseat to trade principles in international trade law (see for example, the rejection of environmental protection as an Article XX defense in the Tuna-Dolphin dispute). In the late 1990s, sustainable development was accepted by the WTO Appellate Panel as guiding principle to determine Article XX defenses. Presently, as the world edges closer to the 1.5°C overshoot resulting in irreversible environmental damage, the need for environmental considerations to form the top priority of international trade law is more important than ever.
While sustainable development is recognized to inform the WTO Agreement, environmental considerations should be the foremost consideration. Despite efforts to reform the energy commodities trade to meet sustainability goals, new forms of trade (such as Artificial Intelligence and related products) threaten to undermine them due to their voracious consumption of energy and water resources in their use. Although there are other regimes that spearhead global environmental protection (like the UNFCCC), international trade law is too large a corpus of economic activity and international law to ignore this issue.
Therefore, while preserving international trade and economic growth around the world is important in an increasingly isolationist world, the ultimate objective should be ensuring an equitable planet for trade and human activity to continue. With scientific reports warning of the devastating consequences of climate change, economic gain in the short-term is not worth the environmental, social and eventual economic harm in the long term.
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