In anticipation of the upcoming World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial meeting, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mike Crapo (R- Idaho), John Kerry (D-Mass.), and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) wrote a letter (PDF) to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk, urging him to support an agreement between several nations to lower or eliminate import tariffs on goods that contribute to greenhouse gas emission reductions and other sustainable environmental practices as part of the WTO negotiations.

“Eliminating these tariffs will develop large, sustainable export markets to goods that are designed and manufactured in the U.S., whether they are solar panels from Oregon, organic insulation produced in Idaho, hybrid engines from Michigan, or advanced batteries from Massachusetts,” the senators wrote in the letter to Kirk.

The letter asks USTR Kirk to work with other responsible nations to lower import tariffs on environmental goods in order to improve the nation’s ability to export next-generation technologies and to create “large sustainable markets to goods that are designed and manufactured in the U.S.” The senators called for an agreement known as a plurilateral agreement, which involves negotiating tariffs of these goods between trade partners that are faithful to international commitments on trade, investment, labor, and the environment. Lowering these tariffs will create economic opportunities for American companies and will support the market for green goods.

“Our long-standing domestic effort to promote the deployment of renewable energy technology and energy efficiency has positioned U.S. innovators and producers with an opportunity to take advantage of increasing foreign demand for these products,” the senators continued in the letter. “We cannot let this opportunity pass us by.”

Following the release of the letter, the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) applauded the senators for their action.

“We commend Senators Crapo, Kerry, Stabenow, and Wyden for strongly supporting the swift conclusion of a comprehensive green trade agreement and raising attention to this issue,” said NFTC President Bill Reinsch. “Lowering tariff and non-tariff barriers to green trade is essential to advancing U.S. competitiveness and global environmental goals.”

“Currently U.S. exporters selling green goods and services face disproportionately high tariffs and non-tariff barriers that are even more daunting,” said NFTC Vice President for Global Trade Issues Jake Colvin. “Removing green trade barriers through a comprehensive agreement is important to level the playing field for U.S. manufacturers, increase U.S. exports and generate green collar jobs.”

In July, the NFTC joined other leading trade associations in sending a letter to President Obama strongly urging the Administration to lower green trade barriers and pursue a green trade agreement “through all appropriate international economic and environmental forums,” including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The associations also suggested the Administration consider the Forum on Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as forums to help secure interim commitments in advance of a WTO agreement.

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Business Leaders Call on Administration To Lower Barriers to Green Trade

On November 17, National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) Vice President for Global Trade Issues Jake Colvin urged Congress to incorporate green trade more fully into climate policy. During his testimony (PDF), Colvin also warned policymakers against including measures such as carbon tariffs that could undermine U.S. competitiveness abroad and global cooperation.

“The Administration and Congress can promote green jobs at home and advance global environmental objectives by incorporating a more robust green trade component into the international climate agenda. In particular, efforts to expand overseas markets for U.S. climate technologies by reducing trade barriers are critical for creating new green collar jobs in the United States and can aid global climate goals,” Colvin stated in his testimony.

He noted that U.S. exporters selling environmental goods and services face disproportionately high tariffs, as well as non-tariff barriers that present even larger obstacles. “Reducing these impediments would allow U.S. companies to capture a larger share of the more than $600 billion environmental goods and services market, which is growing at twice the rate of all trade,” he said.

Colvin pointed out that green trade “has not received a great deal of attention in international climate negotiations despite the clear environmental benefits,” and noted that the NFTC and eight other leading U.S. business organizations sent a letter to the president in July, urging the Administration to lower green trade barriers and pursue a green trade agreement “through all appropriate international economic and environmental forums.”

In contrast, he stated, “Two issues that have received a great deal of attention in international climate discussions are intellectual property rights and financing. Ensuring the global protection of intellectual property rights and addressing funding and capacity needs in developing countries will promote investment environments abroad that are better able to adopt and develop clean technologies.”

With respect to U.S. competitiveness, Colvin cautioned, “As Congress seeks to address competitiveness and carbon leakage concerns from implementing an emissions reduction program, one popular option — the use of border adjustment measures — could damage the ability of American companies to compete in key markets and global environmental cooperation. Given the increasing reliance on exports to grow the U.S. economy and create new jobs, it is essential to avoid introducing measures that could cause unnecessary friction with U.S. trading partners.” He noted that the international reserve allowance program included in the House-passed American Clean Energy and Security Act, which could lead our trading partners to argue that “such a program is as likely to be fueled by a desire to protect domestic industry as by an interest in protecting the environment.”

“Aggressive and innovative green trade policies can assist efforts to advance U.S. economic priorities and environmental goals, but attempts to impose new tariffs could harm both,” Colvin said. “Efforts to open markets abroad for U.S. businesses and workers in the clean technology arena will be essential to rebalance the global economy and create the next generation of green manufacturing jobs in the United States.”

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has become the first export credit agency (ECA) to adopt a comprehensive Carbon Policy to guide its support of United States exports in light of climate change concerns.

As a part of this policy, Ex-Im Bank has established for the first time a $250 million facility to finance renewable energy exports, including solar, wind, and geothermal energy.

Included in the policy is a commitment to explore ways to improve Ex-Im Bank’s transparency in the tracking and reporting of carbon dioxide emissions from projects that it supports.

The policy also commits the bank to be a leader in financing of climate-friendly technologies made by American workers, including those that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy efficiency.

Ex-Im Bank also committed to advocate in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for the creation of financing incentives for low to zero CO₂-emitting projects, a common methodology for evaluating and taking into account the social cost of carbon, and disincentives for high intensity fossil fuel projects. The bank initiated its efforts involving the OECD within hours of the Carbon Policy’s approval.

The Department of Commerce’s Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee (ETTAC) will hold an open plenary meeting on October 29, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The meeting will be held at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230, in Room 3407. The ETTAC will discuss environmental goods and services trade liberalization efforts in the World Trade Organization, United Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen, and other administrative items.

Written comments concerning ETTAC affairs can be submitted anytime before or after the meeting. The ETTAC is mandated by Public Law 103-392. It was created to advise the U.S. government on environmental trade policies and programs, and to help it to focus its resources on increasing the exports of the U.S. environmental industry. ETTAC operates as an advisory committee to the Secretary of Commerce and the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee.

For further information, contact: Ellen Bohon, Office of Energy and Environmental Technologies Industries (OEEI), International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce; phone: (202) 482-0359; e-mail: ellen.bohon@mail.doc.gov.

On October 7, the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection held a hearing titled “Growing U.S. Trade in Green Technology.” The hearing examined ways to create jobs throughout the United States and enhance U.S. competitiveness in the growing international market for green technologies.

In his opening remarks, Committee Chairman Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) discussed the importance of green technology to the U.S. economy and job market.

“According to the Department of Energy, the increase in exports of green technology could reach $40 billion per year and could create more than 750,000 jobs by 2020. It is estimated that the green technology industry in the U.S. employs 9.1 million U.S. workers,” Rep. Rush stated. “However, only 6 American companies are among the top 30 world leading companies. As we embark in this inevitable phenomenon which I will call ‘the green crusade,’ the future of the U.S. economy will not only depend on a vibrant domestic policy but will also be driven by the global market.

Witnesses providing testimony about the role of green technology in the United States included the following:

• The Honorable Mary Saunders, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing and Services, Department of Commerce;
• Lisa Jacobson, President, The Business Council for Sustainable Energy;
• Timothy Richards, Managing Director of International Energy Policy, General Electric;
• Andrea Larson, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia; and
• Steve Hayward, Ph.D., F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow in Law and Economics, American Enterprise Institute.

During her testimony, Saunders described some of the programs that the International Trade Administration (ITA) and the Department of Commerce are currently undertaking to encourage the competitiveness of U.S. industry in the development and deployment of green technology and to promote their export.

“The best thing we can do to encourage green technology exports is to build up our own market. You can’t export what you don’t manufacture,” stated Saunders. “Building up the U.S. domestic market will require effort by both industry and government.”

Richards also touched on the role of the government in bolstering U.S. green technology exports, saying it “can assist the private sector by reorganizing itself to actively promote competitiveness and exports in cleaner energy goods and services. The federal government is in a position to facilitate the private sector’s growth by undertaking two sets of actions: 1) export finance reform and 2) the coordination of American advocacy for cleaner energy exports.”

Testimony from Jacobson further expanded on the actions of the government, and she presented what the Business Council for Sustainable Energy believes are necessary steps for a successful clean energy manufacturing and export strategy.

According to Jacobson, “Given the global nature of clean energy markets — especially for solar, wind and efficiency products and components — the United States has the opportunity to embark on an aggressive and sustained strategy to expand domestic manufacturing and U.S. exports in these sectors.”

At the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting on September 25, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Rockefeller Foundation, the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), and JP Morgan Chase announced a joint commitment to develop a set of standards that will rate the social and environmental return on financial investments. The Impact Reporting Investment Standards (IRIS) initiative will provide a common framework for defining, tracking, and reporting the performance of impact investments.

IRIS addresses a major barrier to the growth of the impact investing industry: the lack of transparency and credibility in how funds define, track, and report on the social and environmental performance of their capital.

“By creating a common framework to evaluate the impact that private-sector investments have in developing countries, the IRIS initiative will help mobilize capital to fuel smart development,” said Alonzo Fulgham, USAID acting administrator. “This project helps USAID meet its long-term objective to more effectively engage with non-traditional development partners to leverage greater resources for sustainable social and economic growth.”

The GIIN, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting impact investing, will spearhead the development of the standards that will enable more effective impact investments.

“This network is a response to growing appetites from investors across the world for a platform that allows them to work together to capture the powerful potential of impact investing,” said Amit Bouri, director of strategy and development for the GIIN. “Now is the moment to transform disparate efforts into a coherent industry so greater capital will flow to solutions to social and environmental problems.”

The GIIN is supported by a $2.5 million commitment from the Rockefeller Foundation to mobilize investors to help develop the industry, as well as to support the launch of an impact investing reporting and standards initiative. USAID expects to make a $1 million commitment toward the development of the IRIS standards. JP Morgan provided $750,000 to encourage investors to build the impact investment industry.

The IRIS system will be rolled out among impact investing firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and B Lab, E+Co, Pacific Community Ventures, Root Capital, Small Enterprise Assistance Fund, and Acumen Fund. GIIN will also perform an annual update of standards based on the input from its investment community.

As the U.S. Senate begins drafting its climate bill, the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) has released a set of policy recommendations (PDF) that the council believes can guide the development of legislation that will both promote U.S. economic interests and meet global environmental goals.

In its recommendations, the NFTC stated that domestic legislation should encourage global agreement on climate change, including an international framework for dealing with trade-related climate measures; comply with U.S. trade obligations and promote trade; stimulate green innovation and technology production; and lower green trade barriers. The NFTC also raised concerns about certain aspects of trade and competitiveness provisions in the House-passed American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES), chief among them carbon tariffs and border adjustment measures.

Following the publication of the policy recommendations, NFTC President Bill Reinsch spoke of their application and potential impact in a speech (PDF) he delivered during a conference hosted by Carbon Markets USA.

In his remarks, Reinsch commented that, “depending on the trade policies we choose, our actions on climate could have a tremendously positive or negative impact on global trade, jobs, and the global economy.”

He went on to discuss the two climate policy issues on which the NFTC has been focusing, which he characterized as the “two sides of green trade: the challenge of navigating between policies which threaten to disrupt the international trading system … [and] on the other side, the opportunity to take positive steps to incentivize the adoption and financing of clean energy technologies to developing countries. Common-sense policies can create high-paying green collar jobs in the United States and around the world, though care must be taken to make sure that incentives comply with global trade rules and spur the creation of new technologies.”

Reinsch also cautioned, “while it is imperative to ensure that competitiveness issues don’t threaten the trading system, we shouldn’t overlook the tremendous opportunity in climate change discussions to promote green jobs in the United States and around the world.”

On September 22, the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) will host a webinar for industry participants regarding climate change negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Participants will learn from U.S. government officials about the status of current negotiations and hear about key issues for U.S. industry, as well as potential commercial opportunities. The webinar will also allow private sector stakeholders, particularly industry and trade associations, to advise U.S. officials on the impact a new UNFCCC agreement could have on their respective operations and on associated commercial opportunities.

Any private sector participant may register to attend; the number of call-in lines is limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. To participate in the webinar, contact Frank Caliva, Office of Energy & Environmental Industries, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Ave., NW., Room 4053, Washington, DC 20230; phone: (202) 482-8245; e-mail: Frank.Caliva@mail.doc.gov.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s (Commerce) International Trade Administration (ITA) will host a two different 1-day conferences for participants in the agribusiness industry during which senior U.S. government officials will inform private-sector stakeholders, particularly manufacturers of irrigation and agricultural equipment and relevant alternative energy technology, food processors, and specialized service providers, of Commerce programs, services, and data that may be of assistance to them in reducing their consumption of water and energy. It is hoped that by lowering U.S. companies’ costs associated with water and energy consumption, Commerce programs can assist American firms to be more competitive in international markets, as well as advance U.S. government objectives with respect to sustainability and climate change.

A secondary purpose of the conferences is to inform attendees of preparations for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations and for them to advise U.S. officials on the impact a new UNFCCC agreement could have on their respective operations and on associated commercial opportunities.

The first conference will be held September 15, 2009, in Fresno, Calif., at the Holiday Inn Downtown. The second conference will be held September 17, 2009, in El Centro, Calif. at the Barcelona Event Center.

Participation for both conferences is on a first-come-first serve basis, and a $30 fee will be charged for each event.

For further information, contact: Padraic Sweeney, Office of Transportation and Machinery; phone: (202) 482-5024; e-mail: Padraic.Sweeney@mail.doc.gov.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) will host a half-day roundtable for industry participants on September 10, 2009, in San Francisco, during which senior U.S. government officials will outline the draft negotiation text of a new agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), provide updates on recent developments, and solicit individual input from participants. The purpose of the industry roundtable is to allow private-sector stakeholders, particularly industry and trade associations, to advise U.S. officials on the impact a new UNFCCC agreement could have on their respective operations and on associated commercial opportunities. Commerce anticipates additional outreach events will be held throughout the United States.

Negotiations under the UNFCCC are underway to formulate a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. The discussions have the goal of concluding an agreement in Copenhagen this December. Potential impacts on U.S. industrial competitiveness will be discussed during the upcoming roundtable including technology transfer, intellectual property, financing, and related commercial opportunities. For more details, see the notice (PDF) published in the Federal Register.

Any private-sector participant may register to attend; space is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants who are unable to attend the event can call into a conference line to participate.

To participate in the roundtable or to obtain conference call-in information, contact: Stephan Crawford, Director, U.S. Commercial Service San Francisco, 250 Montgomery Street, 14th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94104; phone: (415) 705-2301; e-mail: Stephan.Crawford@mail.doc.gov.