“SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT” CLAUSES IN THE TRADE DEALS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION – A LEGAL INSTRUMENT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
“SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT” CLAUSES IN THE TRADE DEALS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION – A LEGAL INSTRUMENT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Summary/Abstract: By means of the European Green Deal, the European Union has set (for itself) the ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the 2050 deadline by adopting a “sustainable and inclusive growth model [...] dissociated from the use of resources”. In this context, the European Commission also acknowledges the lack of an international consensus on the measures required to ensure environmental protection and the fight against climate change. Thus, in the absence of direct and mutually agreed efforts by the partner states, policies imposed by the European Union may therefore have no effect on global GHG emissions, mainly due to the transfer of polluting and highly carbon-generating industrial production towards states that offer more flexible legal regimes for environmental protection. Consequently, in order to achieve the proposed objectives, the EU must take advantage of its position as the world's leading trading bloc, using its economic strength to develop international standards in line with its ambitions in the field of ecoclimate action. Trade policy has therefore become a key tool in enabling the European Union to achieve its environmental, sustainable development, and climate change goals

• Details
• Contents