The APEC List of Environmental Goods: An Analysis of the Outcome & Expected Impacts

The paper delves into the agreement to liberalise environmental goods and concludes that because applied tariffs on the defined list of goods are generally low, only a relatively small number of products will actually benefit from a tariff reduction.  However, the paper notes that given the political importance of the achievement, the agreement may provide a positive experience to build on in other contexts. The APEC agreement marks the first time a group of major trading partners has managed to agree to a set of environmental products on which they will apply tariff reductions, in stark contrast with the stalled Doha negotiations on environmental goods and services.