The Law and Economics of a Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement

The widely accepted need to reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels and move instead to low-carbon, renewable alternatives faces a host of challenges. Whilst the greatest challenges remain in engineering, political and public policy issues continue to play a very important role. This volume, which consists of contributions from leading figures in the field, presents the case for a Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement (SETA). It shows that by addressing barriers to trade in goods and services relevant for the supply of clean energy, such an agreement would foster the crucial scaling-up of clean energy supply and promote a shift away from fossil fuels. In doing so it illustrates how the agreement would help to address a number of overarching sustainable development priorities, including the urgent threat of climate change, enhanced energy access and improved energy security. The book will appeal to academics and policymakers working on the interface of trade and energy policy.

Foreword: trade policy can help combat climate change H. E. Mogens Jensen; 1. Introduction Gary C. Hufbauer, Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz and Richard Samans; 2. Issues and considerations for negotiating a sustainable energy trade agreement - May 2012 Gary C. Hufbauer and Jisun Kim; 3. Trade in sustainable energy services - October 2013 Joachim Monkelbaan; 4. Governing clean energy subsidies: what, why, and how legal? - August 2012 Arunabha Ghosh with Himani Gangania; 5. Trade law implications of procurement practices in sustainable energy goods and services - September 2012 Alan Herve and David Luff; 6. Selling the Sun safely and effectively: solar photovoltaic (PV) standards and implications for trade policy - December 2013 Sunny Rai and Tetyana Payasova; 7. Addressing local content requirements in a sustainable energy trade agreement - June 2013 Sherry Stephenson; 8. International technology diffusion in sustainable energy trade agreement - September 2012 Thomas L. Brewer; 9. Legal options for a sustainable energy trade agreement - July 2012 Matthew Kennedy.

Gary C. Hufbauer is the Reginald Jones Senior Fellow with the Peterson Institute of International Economics, Washington DC, a position he has held since 1992. He was formerly the Maurice Greenberg Chair and Director of Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (1996–1998). He has authored or co-authored over thirty publications on international trade, investment and tax issues. As a senior official in the US Treasury Department, he negotiated trade, tax and financial agreements.
Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz is co-founding Chief Executive of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD). He is a former negotiator in bilateral and multilateral trade, environment, and development negotiations and processes, and served as Principal Advisor to the Colombian Minister of Economic Development and as Chief of Administration in the Office of the President of Colombia. He is currently the Convener of the E15Initiative, a joint ICTSD-WEF undertaking looking into the future of the global trade and investment system, and an Advisor to the Global Commission on Business and Sustainable Development.
Richard Samans is Managing Director and Member of the Managing Board of the World Economic Forum. From 2011 to 2013, he was Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute. He has previously served in the US White House as Special Assistant to the President for International Economic Policy, and as National Security Council Senior Director for International Economic Affairs.