Through a virtual platform, the four countries driving the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade, and Sustainability (ACCTS) signed the final text this past Friday. It is a pioneering instrument that is the first in history to use disciplines from different areas of trade policy to combat climate change and promote environmental sustainability.
The intention is that trade relations now ensure the fight against climate change. Also reduce the impact on biodiversity loss, pollution, and other serious environmental challenges. In its management, Costa Rica was joined by New Zealand, Iceland, and Switzerland.
This led to an interesting fact: while in San José the Agreement was signed at 6:00 AM on Thursday, in the other countries the time was already ahead. In Europe, it was 1:00 PM, and Oceania was already into early Saturday morning.
The 4 commitments of the agreement scope the ACCTS, divided into 4 pillars:
- Environmental goods: it contains a list of more than 300 environmental products, to which countries commit to eliminating the import tariff. This will reduce the cost of access to environmentally friendly products and technologies for individuals and businesses.
- Environmental services: countries commit to liberalizing regulations on the trade of these types of services. Access to key services for solving environmental problems or reducing the environmental impact of activities and processes will be facilitated and increased for individuals and companies.
- Voluntary eco-labeling: it involves commitments to information exchange and efforts based on international best practices. Voluntary and effective environmental labels will be created. This is in order to provide relevant information to consumers and for interested companies to add value to their products and services.
- Subsidies to fossil fuels: countries undertake commitments aimed at disciplining and reducing subsidies to fossil fuels. The objective is to prevent them from artificially incentivizing their production and use. The idea is that fossil fuels can be produced and used at market prices, without distortions caused by subsidies.
The role of Costa Rica
The materialization of the Agreement required 15 rounds of negotiations between the managers. On the part of Costa Rica, the negotiation was carried out by a national team led by COMEX with the support of MINAE.
In the case of Costa Rica, the expectation is highlighted not only for the exchange of goods. It also points to its possible application in services, a key area for investments.
“The ACCTS contains the most ambitious and credible list to date, which includes more than 300 environmental goods, for which import tariffs will be reduced to 0% to promote access to sustainable technologies,” states Comex.
“Additionally, the agreement identifies and integrates into a list more than 100 environmental and environment-related services, thus creating a renewed and updated framework for countries to undertake commitments that will facilitate their trade,” they elaborate.
Minister Manuel Tovar emphasized the contribution that trade would be making in environmental matters and the multilateralism that the Agreement promoted. “The ACCTS confirms how much we can achieve if we work together as countries that share a set of common values such as respect for the environment and the awareness to take action as soon as possible,” he assured.
The Agreement will now be sent to the Legislative Assembly for processing. According to the agreement made by the member countries, it will come into effect when 3 have completed the process.
