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environment

European Union drops plan to label oilsands crude ’dirty’
7-Oct-2014 CBC
The European Union has backed off a plan to label oil from Alberta’s oilsands as dirtier than other oils and to make it harder to import.​
The trade clause that overrules governments
6-Oct-2014 Washington Post
The Obama administration’s insistence on ISDS may please Wall Street, but it threatens to undermine some of the president’s landmark achievements in curbing pollution and fighting global warming.
TTIP chief negotiators address regulatory concerns
4-Oct-2014 Chemical Watch
When it comes to chemical regulations, there will be no harmonisation, just cooperation, the TTIP negotiators say.
US trade deal won’t change rules on ’toxic’ chemicals, EU says
4-Oct-2014 Reuters
The European Union is seeking to contain a new complaint that a trade deal with the United States would undermine Europe’s protection against dangerous chemicals, eager to avoid another front of resistance to the world’s biggest trade accord.
Leaked TTIP draft for chemicals sector reveals a toxic partnership
2-Oct-2014 CIEL
A leaked restricted access text for the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) from August 2014 from the European Commission confirms that negotiations continue to favour business interests over the protection of citizens’ health and of the environment.
EU-US FTA (TTIP) - draft EU chemicals offer (Sep 2014)
2-Oct-2014 CIEL
as leaked by CIEL
Social movements denounce corporate take-over of Ban Ki-Moon Climate Summit
17-Sep-2014 Climate Space
The movements point out that halting climate change calls for an end to the neoliberal free trade regime that promotes the pursuit of endless growth and endless profit for transnational corporations.
Chemical industry using TTIP ‘to attack the precautionary principal’
27-Aug-2014 Chemical Watch
The last 12 months have seen a surge of attacks against the EU’s precautionary principle, with some law firms considering it a potential obstacle to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
CAFTA investor rights undermining democracy and the environment: Pacific Rim mining case
23-Aug-2014 Public Citizen
Pacific Rim Mining Corp., a Canadian-based multinational firm, sought to establish a massive gold mine using water-intensive cyanide ore processing in the basin of El Salvador’s largest river, Rio Lempa.
US accused of forcing EU to accept tar sands oil
19-Jul-2014 IPS
Newly publicised internal documents suggest that US negotiators are working to permanently block a landmark regulatory proposal in the European Union aimed at addressing climate change, and instead to force European countries to import particularly dirty forms of oil.
Free trade agreements and environmental destruction
23-Jun-2014 Counter Punch
Washington’s “free-trade agreements” throughout Central and South America are products of the West’s "culture of waste", and must count among their achievements the destruction of huge swathes of the region’s forests, the poisoning of its waters, and the ruin of scores of its indigenous communities.
MoEF officials give nod to carbon-trading deal with Japan without political clearance
18-Jun-2014 Business Standard
Indian Ministry of Environment officials have agreed in-principle to a bilateral carbon-trading climate change deal with Japan without a formal approval from the political leadership, putting the BJP government in a corner ahead of PM Modi’s trip to the country.
US states demand more say in TTIP negotiations
13-Jun-2014 Chemical Watch
Fears that provisions under discussion at the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks could impede their ability to regulate chemical safety, environmental protection and public health, have prompted several US states, led by Vermont, to demand a "seat at the table".
New environmentalists taking bold actions and it’s working
26-May-2014 Dissident Voice
Through trade agreements, Big Energy is trying to weaken environmental protections and increase their power to subvert democracy but people are stopping these too.
In Chevron case, Ecuador says new tests prove long-standing pollution
23-May-2014 Reuters
This week, for the first time, the Ecuadorean government disclosed the results of water and soil testing conducted in 2013 by its experts — the US environmental, engineering and infrastructure consultant Louis Berger Group — at five sites once operated by Chevron predecessor Texaco.
178 groups demand answers about TTIP’s climate impact
15-May-2014 EcoWatch
Will the US and Europe consider the climate and environment during their next round of TTIP negotiations? Nearly 200 civil society organizations hope so, and wrote about their concerns in a letter to trade representatives from the U.S. and Europe.
Doctors warn TPPA takes away our climate protection tools
13-May-2014 Voxy
The New Zealand Climate and Health Council warns that negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) threaten New Zealand’s ability to protect our climate and health.
Must we link trade to social and environmental standards?
29-Apr-2014 Srfood.org
The inclusion of "sustainable development" chapters in bilateral trade agreements has generally met with resistance from the EU’s trading partners.
TTIP debate - Brussels
19-Apr-2014 TNI
Frank exchange of views between the EU Commission and civil society representatives on the introduction of special rights for companies in the TTIP, through the mechanism of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).
Leaked: US and EU chemical lobbies fighting to “freeze” industry regulation
18-Mar-2014 Mint Press News
Newly leaked documents from the chemical industries in the United States and European Union depict a joint effort to guide bilateral trade talks in a way that legal and public interest analysts warn would irreparably weaken the ability of governments in both continents to regulate toxic chemicals.