An alliance of private sector companies for green growth, attending the second annual conference of the Global Green Growth Forum (3GF), on Tuesday called on national governments to liberalize trade in clean technologies by engaging with multilateral trade organizations.
In an open letter advocating creation of global, green free trade regulations, the World Economic Forum’s Green Growth Action Alliance (G2A2), a grouping of leading companies, called for pragmatic solutions to challenges facing trade in green growth products.
It warned that “the rising tide of green import tariffs, local content requirements and other non-tariff barriers demonstrates that more action is needed,” and urged all parties “to avoid escalating trade retaliation measures.”
Released at the 3GF in Copenhagen, the open letter comes as the U.S. and the European Union launched anti-dumping cases against Chinese solar energy products earlier this year.
TRADE DISPUTES
On Monday, Liu Qi, deputy head of China’s National Energy Administration, said that trade disputes between China and other countries would harm sustainable development industries as a whole.
“Protectionism does not help green growth and is not in tune with World Trade Organization rules,” Liu said in a keynote speech to the forum.
“During a time when sustainable energy is developing so rapidly, all countries should work together to promote green growth,” he added.
Warning that trade tariffs between major world economies is hampering growth of the global renewable energy industry, the G2A2 alliance said it would work with governments and other relevant parties to develop an approach to green, free trade that both delivers growth and safeguards the environment.
“The global clean tech industry wants to compete on a level playing field where green tariffs and non-tariff barriers are eliminated,” the alliance said in the open letter.
“We would ask all national leaders to engage with multilateral trade organizations to liberalize trade in clean technologies,” it stated.
The signatories of the open letter, which include wind-turbine manufacturers, industrial enzyme makers, solar energy players, consumer-goods retailers and banks, said coordinated action would quicken spread of clean technologies, thereby enabling a green economic transition.
China is both the world’s largest maker of wind turbines and solar panels, and also its largest market for wind power. The country plans to increase the share of non fossil-fuel energy in its total energy consumption to 11.4 percent in 2015, up from 8.3 percent in 2010, the Chinese government said.
Lowering tariffs on green energy products could help Chinese exporters, but also improve overseas manufacturers’ access to the vast Chinese market, which is rapidly transiting towards a green economy under China’s ongoing 12th Five-Year Plan.
Indeed, some multilateral forums are already taking steps towards making policy that will cut tariffs for trade in green products.
For instance, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum agreed to cap tariffs on green goods and services at 5 percent, at its meeting in September.
ZERO TARIFFS
Experts at the 3GF conference, going on from Monday to Tuesday, pointed out that a low tariff regime could help deliver sustainable energy to those countries and regions where low-income consumers suffer from having little or no access to power, which hurts their economic prospects.
“We would like to see a situation in the world where, for example, all clean energy technologies are made duty free. The principle is very low or zero tariffs on renewable energy technologies,” said Kandeh Yumkella, director-general of the UN Industrial Development Organization.
“In poor countries, we would like to see zero tariffs on renewable energy technologies as we need to give better access to energy for poor people,” he added, in comments made to Xinhua.
Low tariffs could especially help countries in energy-hungry sub-Saharan Africa, where implementation of energy infrastructure is hampered by lack of access to new technology and long-term financing, among others. In this scenario, green technology, be it wind, solar, geothermal or hydro power, offers sustainable and practical ways to bring energy and economic growth to the region’s citizens.
“Some are risky technologies, going in to risky markets. In Africa we need to help to stabilize these (green power) sectors and help them be affordable to more people,” Yumkella said.
Experts said public-private partnerships would provide a sturdy framework for rolling-out green power solutions in this context.
Furthermore, policies that take into account the challenges posed by different green energy sectors could also help resolve tensions arising over trade in green products.
“We have to make cooperative agreements in different sub-sectors. If we can get together on practical and analytical issues, I think the discussion on trade barriers will vanish, or at least be reduced,” said Bo Diczfalusy, director of Sustainable Energy Policy and Technology at the International Energy Agency, in an interview with Xinhua.
For his part, Liu said in his keynote speech that the world needs deeper technical collaboration to boost global industrial integration, lower trade barriers to promote free flow of sustainable energy technologies, and better and more global mechanisms to boost conditions for global green growth.
Now in its second year, 3GF is a partnership organized by the governments of Denmark, Mexico and South Korea, and was recently joined by the governments of China, Kenya and Qatar.
The forum promotes public-private initiatives to help the world transit to a green economy, and seeks solutions to boost resource efficiency and financing of energy efficiency programs, among others. [PNA/Xinhua]
0 Comments
Oldest