Defining Environmental Goods and Services
A Case Study of Mexico
Defining Environmental Goods and Services
A Case Study of Mexico
Description
Commitments undertaken in diverse international fora support the liberalisation and market expansion of the environmental goods and services (EGS) sector as a strategy worth exploring to support the pursuit of sustainable development. Among these commitments, the mandate in Paragraph 31(iii) of the Doha Ministerial Declaration of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) calls for negotiations to reduce or, as appropriate, eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers for trade in EGS. However, implementing such a strategy poses major challenges. Moreover, despite some attempts undertaken in recent years, the international community has yet to reach a consensus on suitable approaches to defining and classifying the EGS market.
This study considers that a suitable approach for facing these challenges is to assess the sustainable development impacts of the liberalisation of the EGS sector under different classifications. In this context, the study assesses the potential impacts of EGS trade liberalisation against Mexico’s own sustainable development goals and strategies. The analysis presented addresses the sustainable development patterns experienced by Mexico over the last three decades; the current debate regarding the liberalisation of the EGS sector and its implications for Mexico; the market structure and trade flows of the Mexican EGS market; the potential of some environmentally preferable products (EPPs) of export interest to the country; and options for Mexico’s possible strategies on EGS negotiations in the WTO.
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