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Introduction    back to top

• Introduction to trade and environment in the WTO

• The 1999 Special Study on the economics of trade and environment

• History from the 2004 background document on Trade and Environment at the WTO

WTO rules and environmental policies    back to top

• Introduction

• Key GATT disciplines

• GATT exceptions

• Other relevant WTO texts

• Environment-related disputes

Work in the WTO    back to top

• Negotiations
  In the Doha Round, WTO members are negotiating certain aspects of the link between trade and the environment, particularly the relationship between the WTO’s agreements and those of other agencies, and market access for environmental goods and services. These talks take place in “Special Sessions” of the Trade and Environment Committee.
   

• Regular Trade and Environment Committee
  
  The Trade and Environment Committee is the standing forum dedicated to dialogue between governments on the impact of trade policies on the environment, and of environment policies on trade. Created in 1995, the Committee has followed a comprehensive work programme.
  
  
  Under the Doha Development Agenda, the regular committee is also looking at the effects of environmental measures on market access, the intellectual property agreement and biodiversity, and labelling for environmental purposes.

Trade and climate change    back to top

• Introduction

• The impact of trade opening on climate change

• Activities of the WTO and the challenge of climate change

• Climate change and the potential relevance of WTO rules

> Download the text of all the climate change pages as a single pdf

Technical assistance    back to top

WTO technical assistance on trade and the environment aims to help developing countries participate more effectively in the work of the Trade and Environment Committee and in the negotiations:

• Regional seminars

• National workshops

• Side-events at meetings of other intergovernmental organizations

• Trade policy courses

• Discussions in the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE)

External links    back to top

Visit the websites of secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and other international organizations. A WTO Secretariat background note on existing forms of cooperation and information exchange between the UN Environment Programme/MEAs and the WTO.

A list of observer organizations to the CTE is contained here