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climate


The fossil fuel era is coming to an end, but the lawsuits are just beginning
Westmoreland Coal is suing Canada because it did not receive a transition payment following Alberta’s coal phaseout plan. For the province, coal mining companies have no role to play in the energy transition.
Mercosur and EU trade negotiators meet in Brasilia
This is the first time the two blocs are meeting after statements made by France’s Macron about Brazil’s Bolsonaro caused tension and doubt about the partnership.
The EU’s trade challenge
The international trading system is facing a crisis – but protectionism isn’t the biggest test EU leaders must deal with.
US coal firm launches NAFTA suit against Alberta over coal phase-out
A US coal miner is launching a NAFTA suit against Alberta over its policy to phase out coal in the electricity system by 2030.
Inclusion of Paris Agreement in CETA at risk
France wants to make compliance with the Paris Agreement on climate a precondition to signing European trade agreements. However, this is an issue where France is struggling to get the other 27 EU members to agree.
Trump’s NAFTA deal threatens our air, water, and climate
More outsourcing of pollution and jobs, handouts to corporate polluters, and climate denial
Canada-EU trade, one year on: Canada’s imports are rising faster than exports
The fastest-growing exports include inorganic chemicals, mineral fuels and oil (including crude oil) and pharmaceuticals.
In a trade war, Canada’s energy not on the table
Canada is hamstrung by a little-known NAFTA clause that packs a huge climate punch and gives the US first access to most of Canada’s oil and natural gas.
The big trade war distraction
The “trade war” points our leaders away from what they should be focused on — climate change and peace — and it distracts everyone from the larger overall problems with this global trade regime.
Did Canada buy an oil pipeline in fear of being sued by China?
The logic to Trudeau’s action may lie in an obscure and overlooked 2014 agreement to ensure China got a pipeline built
Petroleum ISDS cases pose major threat to climate action
Research shows that mining and energy industries are the most frequent users of Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanisms.
Setting course for sustainable trade – a new trade agenda that serves people and the environment
We urgently need a new trade regime which can help address global challenges and tackle problems like accelerating climate change, a broken agricultural model and loss of trust in democratic processes.
Lobbyists want to use Nafta to fast-track Trump’s agenda
Lobbyists in Washington are using the deal’s rewrite to advance a broad legislative agenda making it easier for US companies to build factories, move cargo and export coal.
New centre opened in Thailand as part of China’s Digital Belt and Road program
DBAR ICoE-Bangkok is one of eight such centres around the world. It will leverage Earth observation and big Earth data from satellites and other sources to support decision-makers in the implementation of projects related to the Belt and Road Initiative and managing risks associated with climate change.
Malmström issues plan to improve implementation of sustainability chapters in EU trade deals
The EU’s top trade official released a plan examining how the bloc can make sure the sustainable development chapters in its trade deals can be applied more effectively.
Trade and climate: How the EU can protect the Paris Agreement
It is possible to effectively integrate the Paris Agreement into new trade deals, including CETA and the upcoming JEFTA with Japan.
EU will only make trade deals with nations that ratify Paris climate agreement
The United States would be excluded.
Europe reaps Canada’s wheat belt
A new trade agreement between the EU and Canada is expected to increase bilateral trade by USD 14 billion.
EU-LatAm trade deal good for agribusiness; bad for Amazon, climate
The emphasis on production and international consumption could greatly increase the need for agricultural land in Latin America, and result in a major increase in deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado, and Argentine Chaco.
EU-Mercosur FTA: draft chapters (July 2017)
8 draft chapters, as leaked by Greenpeace