bilaterals.org logo
bilaterals.org logo

Focus on: TTIP & energy and environment


date title
Calls to ban toxic chemicals fall on deaf ears around the world
“If TTIP is passed along the lines that have been released so far, the EU’s endocrine disrupting chemicals regulations would be postponed even further or completely derailed,” says David Azoulay, an attorney at the Centre for International Environmental Law.
Consumer groups worry US-EU trade pact will weaken health, privacy regulations
US consumer groups raised concerns on Wednesday about the proposed free trade agreement between the US and the EU, which they said could weaken government health, environmental and food safety regulations and undermine privacy on the Internet.
Toxic trade deal: Friends of the Earth decries industry efforts to weaken regulation of chemicals associated with breast cancer, autism, infertility
Statements made at a US government hearing by the American Chemistry Council, the trade association of multinational chemical companies lobbying for the US-EU trade deal, highlight the risks to public health, report Friends of the Earth
How an EU-US free trade agreement will affect the energy sector
Energy has not been making headlines in the context of these talks, but a TTIP will have far-reaching implications for the energy sector, e.g. with regard to oil sands, LNG and shale gas.
EU-Canada free trade deal ‘opens door to environmental lawsuits’
Multinationals will have wide-ranging powers to sue EU states that enact health or environmental laws breaching their "legitimate expectations" of profit, according to a leaked ‘investment chapter’ from the Canada-EU free trade agreement. A separate ‘nature and scope’ document for EU-US free trade talks, which EurActiv has seen, makes clear that similar parameters are foreseen for TTIP.
EU negotiators to press US to include energy exports in trade talks
European negotiators, hoping to cut fuel bills, will press their US counterparts in Washington this week on including energy exports in a transatlantic trade pact that aims to integrate two markets accounting for half the world’s economy.
Environmental scientists join anti-TTIP tirade
The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership could spell an increase in lawsuits against governments which would not only discourage enforcement of existing environmental regulations, but also diminish the role of environmental scientists, predicts an academic opinion piece.
EEB: “Regulatory rollback: how TTIP puts the environment at risk”
European Environmental Bureau position paper on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)
European Commission announces composition of TTIP expert group
Last Monday the Commission launched a special Advisory Group of experts representing a broad range of interests, from environmental, health, consumer and workers’ interests to different business sectors to provide EU trade negotiators with high quality advice in the areas being negotiated in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks.
Investor-state dispute settlement under TTIP - a risk for environmental regulation?
New report from the Heinrich Boell Foundation reviews the implications of an investor-state dispute settlement provision in TTIP for environmental policies and standards
TTIP ‘challenged’ by environmental critics, EU says
Plans for a sweeping EU-US free trade deal known as TTIP risk being blown off course by civil society fears about the damage it could wreak on environmental and social protections, according to a leaked EU document seen by EurActiv.
New report: No fracking way How the EU-US trade deal risks expanding fracking in Europe and the US
A trade deal between the EU and the US risks opening the backdoor for the expansion of fracking in Europe and the US, reveals a new report released today.
Chemical industry secretly manipulating US-EU trade negotiations (TTIP)
A report published today by ClientEarth and CIEL shows that a leaked proposal from lobby groups, the American Chemistry Council and the European Chemical Industry Council, to the US-EU trade negotiations would damage future protective legislation on toxic chemicals.
Leaked: US and EU chemical lobbies fighting to “freeze” industry regulation
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.
Ukraine crisis gives new impetus to EU-US trade talks, US says
Russia’s annexation of Crimea underlines the need for the United States and the European Union to deepen their economic ties via an ambitious trade deal that would also allow Europe to import US gas, Washington’s top trade official said on Saturday.
Obama is negotiating an agreement that could unleash fracking around the world. See how.
The translantic trade agreement would undermine hard-fought regulations and open up a large part of the world to greater exploitation without regulation. Fracking would go global.
Le gaz de schiste au cœur du sommet UE-USA
L’approvisionnement de l’Europe en gaz de schiste dans le cadre du TTIP s’est invité à la table des discussions lors de la visite de Barack Obama à Bruxelles.
TTIP debate - Brussels
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).
The tar sands mystery and the smoking TTIP gun
The EU’s motivation for a proposal to scrap greenhouse gas intensity targets in its flagship Fuel Quality Directive (FQD), which regulates emissions from transport fuels, has been shrouded in mystery since it was first mooted three months ago, but EurActiv has uncovered new information.
178 groups demand answers about TTIP’s climate impact
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.