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Sustainability Trends, the Significance of Trade, and the Potential Role of RTAs

Sustainability Trends, the Significance of Trade, and the Potential Role of RTAs. Magnus Bengtsson Principal Researcher Institute for Global Environmental Strategies.

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Sustainability Trends, the Significance of Trade, and the Potential Role of RTAs

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  1. Sustainability Trends, the Significance of Trade, and the Potential Role of RTAs Magnus Bengtsson Principal Researcher Institute for Global Environmental Strategies OECD and Government of Viet Nam Regional Workshop on Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) and the Environment, 17-18 September 2014, Ha Noi, Viet Nam

  2. Economic Growth in Developing Asia High and stable growth

  3. Trade is playing an increasingly important role in Asian economies

  4. Consumption of Materials is Soaring: Asia is Leading the Trend - Very rapid increase in material consumption - Asia-Pac is now consuming more materials than the rest of the world combined West & Schandl 2012

  5. Asia-Pacific is Becoming LESS Resource Efficient Each dollar of GDP requires increasing amounts of natural resources. West & Schandl 2012

  6. High Youth Unemployment • Pressure on Governments to Create Jobs • Temptation to promote growth and FDI also at the expense of environmental impacts and human rights violations, such as land grabs

  7. Minimum Wages not Keeping up with Growth Minimum wage growth and per capita GDP growth in developing Asia-Pacific, 2002-2011

  8. Increasing Inequality in Many Countries Annual growth rates of income share held by lowest 20% and highest 20% during 1990s and 2000s

  9. Governance Remains a Real Challenge Asia 7: PRC, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand.

  10. Emerging Trend: South-South Trade • South-south trade is on the increase – raises both opportunities and challenges • China the world’s largest buyer of soy • India buying 20% of traded palm oil, China 16% • Is there awareness, willingness and capacity in these countries to push for greening of supply chains? • What role for RTAs?

  11. Questions for Reflection/Discussion • How are these environmental and social trends related with trade? • To what extent can RTAs influence these trends? • Risks and opportunities? • How could well-crafted RTAs help addressing these trends? • Where do you see the greatest opportunities and the most feasible entry points? • What opportunities exist in the existing integration processes: TPP, ASEAN Community, and RCEP

  12. Greening Integration in AsiaHow Regional Integration Can Benefit People and the Environment • Forthcoming report from IGES, Release planned for December • Reviews how existing integration and cooperation initiatives in Asia contribute to sustainable development • Makes recommendations for improvement Please feel free to contact me to receive a copy: bengtsson@iges.or.jp

  13. Some Tentative Recommendations Related with RTAs • Sustainability Impact Assessments of new or revised trade and investment agreements. Pooling capacity and expertise regionally could prove beneficial. • Preferential tariffs for environmental goods and services • Regional information tools, such as labelling schemes for more sustainable materials and goods • Ensure that trade agreements allow for, or even encourage, sustainable public purchasing

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