Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of abbreviations
- Preface
- PART I Climate change mitigation: scientific, political and international and trade law perspectives
- PART II Climate change mitigation and trade in goods
- PART III Trade in renewable energy sources
- PART IV Climate change mitigation and trade in services
- 11 GATS, financial services and trade in renewable energy certificates (RECs) — just another market-based solution to cope with the tragedy of the commons?
- 12 Assessment of GATS' impact on climate change mitigation
- 13 GATS' commitments on environmental services: ‘hover through the fog and filthy air’?
- PART V Climate change and technology transfer, investment and government procurement: legal issues
- PART VI Institutional challenges and the way forward
- Index
- References
11 - GATS, financial services and trade in renewable energy certificates (RECs) — just another market-based solution to cope with the tragedy of the commons?
from PART IV - Climate change mitigation and trade in services
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of abbreviations
- Preface
- PART I Climate change mitigation: scientific, political and international and trade law perspectives
- PART II Climate change mitigation and trade in goods
- PART III Trade in renewable energy sources
- PART IV Climate change mitigation and trade in services
- 11 GATS, financial services and trade in renewable energy certificates (RECs) — just another market-based solution to cope with the tragedy of the commons?
- 12 Assessment of GATS' impact on climate change mitigation
- 13 GATS' commitments on environmental services: ‘hover through the fog and filthy air’?
- PART V Climate change and technology transfer, investment and government procurement: legal issues
- PART VI Institutional challenges and the way forward
- Index
- References
Summary
Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.
G. HardinIntroductory remarks
Trade in the energy sector is one of the areas that clearly demonstrates the importance of the service sector. As is the case with other trade areas, trade in energy is made feasible through a series of supporting services, ranging from distribution and transportation services to engineering and financial services. Energy constitutes the biggest business in the world economy, with a turnover of approximately US$1.7–2 trillion per annum, with energy demand mounting. Energy has come to the forefront of the public debate in the last decade for two reasons: the first relates to the lack of a secure, continuous and, above all, unconditional energy supply in the demandeurs, mostly developed and transition economies, which are still dependent on non-renewable carbon-based fossil fuels such as coal, oil or gas; ‘pipeline diplomacy’ has become the catchphrase for foreign policy that is inextricably intertwined with sufficient energy supply stemming from developing countries and, a fortiori, economic sustainability and national security. The second reason relates to the deleterious effects that production, distribution, and use of conventional energy may have on the climate, leading to environmental degradation.
Because of the recognition that these effects are of a transboundary nature threatening global commons, several multilateral instruments have been used in the last two decades to tackle issues related to climate change mitigation.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- International Trade Regulation and the Mitigation of Climate ChangeWorld Trade Forum, pp. 231 - 258Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009
References
, ‘The effect of financial constraints, technological progress and long-term contracts on tradable green certificates’, Energy Policy 35 (2007), 3347–59.Google Scholar
and , ‘Electronic trading and its implications for financial systems’, in Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Electronic Finance: A New Perspective and Challenges, BIS Papers No. 7 (2001).
, The New World Trade Organization Agreements: Globalizing Law through Services and Intellectual Property (Cambridge University Press, 2000).
and , ‘Renewable energy certificates: trading instruments for the promotion of renewable energy’ in OECD, Implementing Domestic Tradeable Permits — Recent Developments and Future Challenges (Paris: OECD, 2002).
, ‘Splintering and disembodiment of services and developing nations’, The World Economy 7 (1984), 133.Google Scholar
and (eds.), The Uruguay Round Results: A European Lawyer's Perspective (Brussels: European Interuniversity Press, 1995).
‘Regulatory reform and trade liberalization in financial services’ in and (eds.), Domestic Regulation and Service Trade Liberalization (Oxford University Press, 2003)
, ‘Trade in financial services and the role of the GATS: against the backdrop of the Asian financial crises’, JWT 32 (1998), p. 83.Google Scholar
, International Trade in Services and Domestic Regulations — Necessity, Transparency and Regulatory Diversity (Oxford University Press, 2007).
‘Due process and “good” regulation embedded in the GATS — disciplining regulatory behaviour in services through Article VI of the GATS’, JIEL 10 (2007), 13–50.
and , Financial Services Liberalization in the WTO (Washington DC: Institute for International Economics Press, 1998).
‘The emissions trading scheme of the European Union’, in and (eds.), Legal Aspects of Implementing the Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms: Making Kyoto Work (Oxford University Press, 2005).
, Die Liberalisierung internationaler Finanzdienstleistungen durch das GATS — Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung internationaler Bankdienstleistungen (Münster: LIT, 1997).
and ‘Financial sector openness and economic growth’ in and (eds.), The Internationalisation of Financial Services: Issues and Lessons for Developing Countries (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2000).
, ‘Renewables portfolio standard: a means for trade with electricity from renewable energy sources?’, Energy Policy 29 (2001), 557–66.Google Scholar
, The Support of Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources, Communication from the Commission, COM(2005)627 final, 7 December 2005.
‘Strengthening WTO member commitments in energy services: problems and prospects’ in and (eds.), Domestic Regulation and Service Trade Liberalization (Oxford University Press, 2003).
‘The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Kyoto Mechanisms’ in and (eds.), Legal Aspects of Implementing the Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms: Making Kyoto Work (Oxford University Press, 2005).
, ‘Services Sectoral Classification List’, MTN.GNS/W/120, 10 July 1991.
, Redefining RECs (Part 1): Untangling Attributes and Offsets, Discussion Paper, Science Technology and Environmental Policy Program, Princeton University (2007) (available at: www.princeton.edu/~mgillenw/discussionpapers.htm).
, Redefining RECs (Part 2): Untangling Certificates and Emission Rights, Discussion Paper, Science Technology and Environmental Policy Program, Princeton University (2007) (available at: www.princeton.edu/~mgillenw/discussionpapers.htm).
, Regulating the Financial Services Sector (London: Kluwer Law International, 1999).
and , Emerging Markets for Renewable Energy Certificates: Opportunities and Challenges, NREL Technical Report (2005).
and , The Treatment of Renewable Energy Certificates, Emissions Allowances, and Green Power Programs in State Renewables Portfolio Standards, report prepared for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2007).
, World Energy Outlook 2006 (Paris: OECD/IEA, 2006).
, Financial Services in the Uruguay Round and the WTO, G-30 Occasional Paper No. 54 (1997).
, ‘Financial services’ in: and (eds.), The World Trade Organization: Legal, Economic and Political Analysis, Volume I (New York: Springer, 2005).
and , Opening Markets in Financial Services and the Role of the GATS, WTO Special Studies No. 1 (1997).
and , ‘Measuring Services Trade Liberalization and Its Impact on Economic Growth: An Illustration’, Journal of Economic Integration 21 (2006).Google Scholar
and , ‘Prices versus quantities: choosing policies for promoting the development of renewable energy’, Energy Policy 31 (2003), 799–812.Google Scholar
, ‘European schemes for promoting renewables in liberalised markets’, Energy Policy 31 (2003), 665–76.Google Scholar
and , ‘Effectiveness through risk reduction: a comparison of the renewable obligation in England and Wales and the feed-in system in Germany’, Energy Policy 34 (2006), 297–305.Google Scholar
‘Interactions of a tradable green certificate market with a tradable permits market’, Energy Policy 29 (2001), 345–53.Google Scholar
, A Qualitative Analysis of White, Green Certificates and EU CO2 Allowances — Phase II of the White and Green Project (Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University, 2004), 15.
, Organisation of RE Market and Trading of Green Certificates, report for the Danish Energy Agency, Hellerup (1999).
, Post-Hearing Submission to the International Trade Commission: World Trade Law and Renewable Energy: The Case of Non-Tariff Measures, 5 May 2005.
, ‘Assessing the General Agreement on Trade in Services — half-full or half-empty?’ JWT 29 (1995), 125–45.Google Scholar
and ‘Financial Services and the WTO: what next?’ in and (eds.), Open Doors: Foreign Participation in Financial Systems in Developing Countries (Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2001).
, The GATS Agreement on Financial Services — A Modest Start to Multilateral Liberalisation, IMF Working Paper, WP/97/55, May 1997.
, Energy Services in International Trade: Development Implications, TD/B/COM.1/EM.16/2, 18 June 2001.
and , Towards an International Certificate System — The Stimulating Example of Belgium, 6th Annual Global Conference on Environmental Taxation, Leuven, Belgium (2005).
, ‘Most-favoured-nation treatment under the GATS — and its application in financial services’, JWT 30 (1996), 91.Google Scholar
, ‘The General Agreement on Trade in Services 1994’, Common Market Law Review 32 (1995), 1177.Google Scholar
and ‘Legal ownership and nature of Kyoto units and EU allowances’ in: and (eds.), Legal Aspects of Implementing the Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms: Making Kyoto Work (Oxford University Press, 2005).
, ‘Competition versus harmonization — an overview of international regulation of financial services’ in (ed.), International Financial Markets: Harmonization versus Competition (Washington DC: AEI Press, 1996).
‘Can companies or entities from a non-party to the Kyoto Protocol participate in the flexible mechanisms?’ in and (eds.), Legal Aspects of Implementing the Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms: Making Kyoto Work (Oxford University Press, 2005).
‘The Uruguay Round and Financial Services’ in and (eds.), The Uruguay Round Results: A European Lawyer's Perspective (Brussels: European Interuniversity Press, 1995).
‘Emissions trading under Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol’ in and (eds.), Legal Aspects of Implementing the Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms: Making Kyoto Work (Oxford University Press, 2005).
, ‘The 1997 World Trade Organization accord on financial services: its impact and implications for the world insurance industry’, Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance 25 (2000), 78.Google Scholar
, Economic Effects of Services Liberalization: Overview of Empirical Studies, S/C/W/26/Add.1, 29 May 1998.
, Committee on Specific Commitments, Additional Commitments under Article XVIII of the GATS, S/CSC/W/34, 16 July 2002.
, Council for Trade in Services, Energy Services, Background Note by the Secretariat, S/C/W/52, 9 September 1998.
,Council for Trade in Services, Financial Services, Background Note by the Secretariat, S/C/W/72, 2 December 1998.
,Council for Trade in Services (Special Session) and Committee on Trade in Financial Services, Liberalization of Financial Services, Communication from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the European Communities, Japan, Norway, Oman, Panama, Singapore, Switzerland, the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, and the United States, TN/S/W/43, S/FIN/W/43, 8 June 2005.
, Report (1996) of the Committee on Trade and Environment, WT/CTE/1, 12 November 1996.