Breathing Life into the List: Practical Suggestions for the Negotiators of the Environmental Goods Agreement

Abstract

Participants in the Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) negotiations, launched in January 2014 by 14 WTO Members, face a fundamental and defining decision: will the final agreement aspire to create a living list of environmental goods, or will the list in the ratified agreement be final? This paper identifies basic ingredients that are needed for such a living list to function and offers concrete examples of ways in which those elements might be embedded.•A definition of environmental goods in the context of the agreement is not a luxury for a successful EGA; it is a cornerstone. The WTO’s ITA has struggled unsuccessfully since 1997 to review and revise its coverage, in no small part because there is no agreed definition of information technology products.•The EGA could follow the example of other international treaties, relying on an expert advisory body to assess goods proposed by EGA participants, and to recommend to the participants whether those goods should be added to the list.•While the necessary prerequisites for a living list are not easy, they are worth the effort. The resulting agreement need not be overly complex or recklessly experimental; other regimes provide examples of solutions that are straightforward to create and administer. Getting it right is imperative if the EGA is to fulfill its potential and promise: to help trade contribute to shared environmental priorities.