Working Group on Trade and the Environment

The Working Group on Trade and Environment is an expert advisory group established in 1995 by the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development. The mandate of the Working Group is to "assist China in developing and implementing long-term, comprehensive and integrated trade and environmental policies and measures that are supportive of sustainable development."

The Working Group on Trade and Environment has 11 members: six Chinese and five international. It is chaired by Ye Ruqiu, senior advisor and former deputy administrator of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) of China, and by David Runnalls, president of the International Institute for Sustainable Development of Canada.

A small Chinese secretariat is seated in the Policy Research Centre for Environment and Economy in Beijing and a small international secretariat is seated in IISD in Winnipeg. Working together closely, they organize and coordinate the research and activities of the Working Group.

The Working Group has regular meetings, conducts policy-related research and analysis, and reports to the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development. It normally meets twice a year, identifying priority topics, planning work programs and commissioning research and background studies. The results are reviewed and debated at the Working Group meetings, and then drafted into formal recommendations to be submitted to the CCICED. It reports its research findings and recommendations to the CCICED each year at its annual meeting. The Working Group also organizes issue-specific workshops, such as the symposium on the potential for widespread adoption of ISO 14000 in China, and trade and environmental issues associated with China's accession to WTO.

The Canadian International Development Agency has provided basic funding for the Working Group and its activities. It covers the costs of meetings, foreign members' travel to attend meetings, the supporting work of IISD and some research projects. During 1998 and 1999, the Working Group also received funds from the Norwegian Government to support some research activities.

The Working Group brings together not only representatives from developed and developing countries but also officials and experts in trade and environment in China to address issues in those areas. This process requires a common understanding of the issues that have emerged over the life of the Working Group.

During the first two-years (1995 and 1996) of phase I of the CCICED, the Working Group focused on various topics, including the following:

1. The role of trade in China's Agenda 21;

2. Voluntary environmental measures and their trade implications for China;

3. Dirty industry migration to China as a result of foreign investment;

4. The relationship between green agriculture and environmental protection; and

5. Technology transfer and the possibility of implementing activities implemented jointly (AIJ) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The activities of the Working Group in the first three years of phase II (1997 to 1999) have focused on the following:

1. Recommending actions and measures to be taken to enhance trade and environmental policies and institutional building that support the integration of trade and sustainable development;

2. Determining China's perspective on foreign direct investment in promoting sustainable development;

3. Recommending actions and measures to be taken to address impacts of foreign environmental standards on certain sectors;

4. Promoting environmental and sustainable technology transfer; and

5. Reviewing experience of trade and environment integration in APEC and the EU.

At present, work has been undertaken on the following subjects:

1. Exploring opportunities for trade, investment and sustainable development integration in selected state-level economic and technological development zones in China;

2. Determining possibilities for trade liberalization in the environmental service sector in China;

3. Examining the effects of packaging regulations in OECD countries on China's exports; and

4. Providing support for China to explore and define workable approaches to address climate change through market-based mechanisms and technology transfer, in particular the clean development mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol.

5. Trade and Environment issues in the WTO (and the possible new Round negotiations) and their implications for China.

For more information, please contact
Dr. Wanhua Yang
Project Manager, China Council Project
International Institute for Sustainable Development
161 Portage Avenue East, 6th Floor
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada R3B 0Y4
Tel.: +1 (204) 958-7719
Fax: +1 (204) 958- 7710
E-mail: whyang@iisd.ca