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A Better Balance is Possible Between Trade & Environment

Sierra Club Canada's Trade and Environment Campaign is centered on the mounting evidence that unfettered economic globalization and its agenda of free trade, de-regulation, and privatization implemented over the past two decades without public consultation, has had a devastating impact on our immediate environment, the ecosystems of the planet and broader planetary cycles that are now deeply out of balance from pollution, depletion of resources and excessive CO2 and other emissions. The Trade and Environment Campaign focuses on: (i) the cascade of bi-lateral and internal FTAs being pushed through without adequate consultation or impact studies (ii) the imperative of re-negotiating NAFTA, and all free trade agreements, iii) working to rid all trade agreements of the unjust, undemocratic and unsustainable NAFTA Chapter 11 investor state mechanism, and iv) working towards fairer trade models and sustainable economic systems. The Trade and Environment Campaign works to increase awareness of how globalization, free trade and NAFTA impact the environment and ecosystems and works with the membership and other national NGO´s and coalitions to oppose trade agreements that are harmful to the environment, local economies, and sovereignty.

Latest Posts

EU warming to oil sands

Submitted by Janet Eaton on Wed, 2012-06-20 14:23

Claudia Cattaneo Jun 15, 2012

Keith Morison for Financial Post
"We are not banning the import of certain types of oils in the EU," European Union trade delegate Maurizio Cellini says.
When the European Union seemed poised to push forward last year new rules affecting fuels used for road transport, Canada pushed back, fearing the rules would unfairly discriminate against the oil sands and set a dangerous policy precedent. The clash threatened to derail negotiations for an ambitious trade deal between the EU and Canada. Maurizio Cellini, head of economic and commercial affairs at the EU delegation in Ottawa, spoke with Claudia Cattaneo, the Financial Post’s Western Business Columnist. He said it was never the EU’s intention to discriminate against Canada’s oil sands and that negotiations for a trade agreement are on track and could be completed by the end of the year.... Read more »

RIO+20 Talks Need to Consider Physical Limits

Submitted by Janet Eaton on Wed, 2012-06-20 14:18

by Gail Tverberg

RIO+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, is to be held this week on June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro.

The term Sustainable Development seems to me to be almost a contradiction in terms. One dictionary gives the definition of "development" as "the act or process of developing; growth; progress". In a finite world, how can growth be sustainable? Isn't it possible that human population already passed the world's carrying capacity, and world leaders should be talking about shrinking instead of growing?... Read more »

TPP Leak Shows extreme provisions negotiated under extreme secrecy (Public Citizen)

Submitted by Janet Eaton on Wed, 2012-06-20 14:03

Public Citizen Press Release:

After Two Years of Closed-Door Negotiations, Trans-Pacific Partnership Text Replicates Alarming Bush Trade Pact Terms That Obama Opposed as Candidate, and Worse

WASHINGTON, D.C.– A leak today of one of the most controversial chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) reveals that extreme provisions have been agreed to by U.S. officials, providing a stark warning about the dangers of “trade” negotiations occurring under conditions of extreme secrecy without press, public or policymaker oversight, Public Citizen said.... Read more »

Canada loses NAFTA battle to Exxon

Submitted by Janet Eaton on Wed, 2012-06-20 13:44

JEFF GRAY - LAW REPORTER, The Globe and Mail, Jun. 01 2012, 12:13 PM EDT

Canada has lost a battle with Exxon Mobil Corp. and Murphy Oil Corp. before a NAFTA arbitration panel over whether the U.S. companies can be forced to boost their research-and-development spending in Newfoundland.

The two companies, involved in the Terra Nova and Hibernia oil projects off the shores of Newfoundland, sued Ottawa in 2007 under the North American free-trade agreement’s long-controversial Chapter 11 provisions, which allow U.S. and Mexican investors in Canada to challenge government policies.

A panel of international arbitrators ruled 2-1, with the Canadian appointee dissenting, that research-spending rules imposed by Newfoundland’s oil regulator in 2004 were “performance requirements” forbidden by NAFTA.... Read more »

CAFTA Ruling Continues Corp. Attack on Envir. Protection [Re Cdn. Mining Co. Pacific Rim & Investor State]

Submitted by Janet Eaton on Wed, 2012-06-20 09:59

“The fact that corporate attacks on a sovereign country’s domestic environmental policy before a foreign tribunal would even be possible – much less cost a country millions when a key element of the attack is dismissed – highlights what is wrong with our ‘trade’ agreement model,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. “These investor rules are an outrageous example of how ‘trade’ pacts have been stuffed with special-interest terms that empower corporate attacks on basic democratic public interest policymaking at home and abroad.”... Read more »