Fiji with the heads of other governments is supporting an agreement that will see the removal of tariffs on environmental goods and the establishment of new and binding commitments for environmental services.
This has been confirmed by Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama at the NZ Event on the announcement of the launch of negotiations towards the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability.
He says the agreement will see an increase to market access for goods and services that are more sustainable in nature.
He says the leaders of Iceland, New Zealand, Norway and Costa Rica will also ensure that the agreement will look at both tariff and more importantly, non‑tariff barriers, and work to remove subsidies for fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas and other products that harm our climate.
He says it is important that this agreement has appropriate safeguards built in and is not simply a means for countries with a trade advantage to use the agreement as a means for dumping or promoting goods, or putting in place new barriers on imports under the guise of sustainability.
Bainimarama says this agreement is important as the world needs transformative solutions because despite the 2015 Paris Agreement, most countries’ climate policies show a chronic lack of ambition and the world remains on track for temperature increases of more than 3°C.
He says little or no attention is paid to global trade architecture during climate policy discussions.
He adds that if the world is to restrict global warming to 1.5°C, trade must be a central part of the solution.
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