WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to media reports that a climate ‘peace clause’ was dropped from the upcoming U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council meeting, Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of the Trade Justice Education Fund released the following statement:
“With less than a decade to turn the corner on the climate crisis, governments must be bold in adopting clean energy subsidies and stronger emission regulations. One obstacle standing in the way is the increased use of outdated trade rules in aging trade agreements to challenge government climate policies.
“The EU and U.S. are historically two of the biggest perpetrators and victims of trade challenges to climate measures. For a brief moment last month, it appeared as if both finally recognized the urgency of removing trade threats to climate initiatives.
“According to reports on leaked texts from the transatlantic Trade and Technology Council, the parties had tentatively agreed last month to a ‘Climate Peace Clause’ under which both would pledge to stop using trade and investment pacts to challenge each other’s green energy transition plans.
“Flash forward to today, however, and that language has reportedly been deleted from the EU-U.S. agreement. If accurate, this is a major rollback with potentially massive repercussions.
“The world quite literally does not have time to try to twist climate initiatives to comport with the expansive rights that oil, gas, coal and other corporate interests have been awarded within existing trade agreements, nor to litigate such policies in extrajudicial trade tribunals. A ‘peace clause’ on climate matters must be a prerequisite to any new international trade and investment pact.”