NAFTA: NEW REPORT: "NAFTA 2.0: For People or Polluters?"

[Oscar]

NAFTA and climate

[ https://canadians.org/nafta-climate ]

April 18, 2018

PDF Download the NAFTA 2.0: For People or Polluters? report
[ https://canadians.org/sites/default/fil ... luters.pdf ]

As NAFTA negotiations close in on an agreement in principle, a new tri-national report by leading Canadian, Mexican and American economists has found that NAFTA’s existing regulations prevent Canada from reducing almost 1500 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. This would nix any chance Canada has of meeting its Paris Agreement commitments on climate change.

The report, NAFTA 2.0: For People or Polluters?, is published by the Council of Canadians, Sierra Club U.S. and Greenpeace Mexico. It details how the existing NAFTA binds all three countries to fossil fuel futures, and how current negotiations make the problems worse.

For example, NAFTA’s energy proportionality rules require that Canada make available for export to the U.S. the same percentage of oil and gas as it has in the past three years.

What does that mean for Canada’s climate? The report’s economic modelling shows that NAFTA’s energy proportionality rules would lock in 1488 megatonnes more greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This is double Canada’s yearly emissions and more than 12 times greater than its 2050 climate pollution target.

More key findings from the report are outlined below. And if you haven’t seen it yet, you can watch the Council’s helpful video on energy proportionality: VIDEO

Key findings from our new report NAFTA 2.0: For People or Polluters?

NAFTA’s Obstacles to Climate Progress

• NAFTA’s “proportionality” rule locks in tar sands oil extraction and fracking in Canada, while giving investors a permanent green light to finance new tar sands oil pipelines to the U.S. If Canada tries to meet its climate goals but remains bound by this NAFTA rule, the country will produce nearly 1,500 metric megatons more climate pollution by 2050 than if it ditched the rule. This cumulative NAFTA climate pollution penalty is twice Canada’s current annual emissions and more than 12 times greater than its 2050 climate pollution target.

• NAFTA has facilitated a fivefold increase in U.S. gas exports to Mexico by requiring those exports to be automatically approved. This has fueled increased fracking in the U.S., expansion of cross-border gas pipelines, and a crowding out of solar and wind power in Mexico. Only 1 percent of Mexico’s electricity comes from solar and wind while half now comes from gas, which has contributed more than any other fuel type to Mexico’s increased climate pollution.

• NAFTA could prolong the climate damage from the Trump administration’s regulatory rollbacks if NAFTA’s private legal system for corporate polluters remains intact. If “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS) remains in NAFTA, it could delay or weaken the re-establishment of U.S. climate policies after the Trump administration leaves.

• NAFTA allows corporations to evade climate policies by offshoring their production, pollution, and jobs to countries with weaker climate standards. Policymakers across North America regularly cite this climate pollution loophole as a reason not to enact stronger climate policies, for fear that doing so would spell job loss and a mere exporting of emissions.

New Climate Threats in NAFTA 2.0?

• NAFTA negotiators have explicitly stated that they intend for NAFTA 2.0 to lock in the recent deregulation of oil and gas in Mexico, which has encouraged increased offshore drilling, fracking, and other fossil fuel extraction. A future Mexican government may want to restrict such activities to reduce climate, air, and water pollution. However, NAFTA 2.0 could bar such changes with a “standstill” rule that requires the current oil and gas deregulation to persist indefinitely, even as the climate crisis worsens and demands for climate action crescendo.

• NAFTA 2.0 includes expansive rules concerning “regulatory cooperation” that could require Canada, the U.S., and Mexico to use burdensome and industry-dominated procedures for forming new regulations, which could delay, weaken, or halt new climate policies. These rules also could be used to pressure Canada and Mexico to adopt climate standards weakened by the Trump administration, making it harder to resume climate progress in the post-Trump era.

A Climate-Friendly NAFTA Replacement

• To allow governments to take climate action without fearing the offshoring of jobs and pollution, NAFTA’s replacement must require each country to enforce robust climate, labor, and human rights protections, in line with the Paris accord and other international agreements. In contrast, the Trump administration is proposing that NAFTA 2.0 replicate the weak environmental text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which did not even mention climate change.

• To prevent climate and other public interest policies from being challenged in trade tribunals, NAFTA’s replacement must include a broad “carve-out” that shields such policies from challenge, while eliminating ISDS and other overreaching rules. The Trump administration has proposed an opt-out for ISDS, but negotiators have given no indication that they plan to curtail other overreaching rules or exempt climate and other public interest policies from those rules.

• To support a just transition to a clean energy economy, NAFTA’s replacement must allow governments to swiftly phase out fossil fuel exports. The deal must eliminate NAFTA’s proportionality rule and the rule that requires automatic U.S. approval of gas exports. Instead, negotiators are reportedly contemplating either maintaining or even expanding these rules.

The report is available here:
[ https://canadians.org/sites/default/fil ... luters.pdf ]

[Oscar]

NAFTA fuelling climate change in North America

[ https://canadians.org/media/nafta-fuell ... ica-report ]

Media Release April 17, 2018

As NAFTA negotiations close in on an agreement in principle, a new tri-national report by leading Canadian, Mexican and American economists has found that NAFTA’s existing regulations prevent Canada from reducing almost 1,500 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. This would nix any chance Canada has of meeting its Paris Agreement commitments on climate change.

The report, NAFTA 2.0: For People or Polluters? [ https://canadians.org/sites/default/fil ... luters.pdf ], is published by the Council of Canadians, Sierra Club U.S. and Greenpeace Mexico. It details how the existing NAFTA binds all three countries to fossil fuel futures, and how current negotiations make the problems worse.

“The Trudeau brand is all about progressive sounding, green tinted messages. However, in NAFTA, nothing has been done to address environmentally destructive measures such as energy proportionality or the investor state dispute mechanism,” says Canadian author, Dr. Gordon Laxer, political economist and founding director of the Parkland Institute at the University of Alberta. “It is scandalous that NAFTA’s proportionality rule locks Canada into perpetual production of climate-polluting tar sands oil and fracked gas. For Canada’s transition to a clean energy economy to begin, this polluter-friendly rule must end.”

The NAFTA 2.0 report’s economic modelling shows that the deal’s energy proportionality rules would lock in 1,488 megatonnes more greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This is double Canada’s yearly emissions and more than 12 times greater than its 2050 climate pollution target. NAFTA’s energy proportionality rules require that Canada make available for export to the U.S. the same percentage of oil and gas as it has in the past three years.

“For decades, the Council of Canadians has been arguing that NAFTA erodes our ability to have sovereignty over our energy resources — and we have been proven right,” says Maude Barlow, Honorary Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “Now, with the urgency of climate change, our concerns are even more vital today in the context of NAFTA renegotiations.”

Ben Beachy, director of Sierra Club’s A Living Economy program, says that NAFTA negotiations reflect U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance on climate change.

“NAFTA was written to support corporate polluters, not climate-impacted communities.The deal must be fundamentally rewritten to benefit the working families hit hardest by the fossil fuel economy.” says Beachy. “Instead, Trump's climate-denying agenda for NAFTA 2.0 would give corporations a new, backdoor way to block climate protections while letting them offshore more jobs and pollution. We cannot shift to a clean energy future if a corporate trade deal tethers us to the fossil fuel past.”

Dr. Frank Ackerman, principal economist at Synapse Energy Economics in the United States, adds, “NAFTA 2.0 could expand the damage of Donald Trump’s attacks on climate policies by giving fossil fuel corporations increased influence over environmental regulations, or by pressuring Mexico and Canada to mirror Trump’s regulatory rollbacks. Even if we are freed from Trump’s climate denialism in a few years, such NAFTA 2.0 proposals could prolong Trump’s polluting legacy for decades.”

In Mexico, provisions such as extending energy proportionality there and locking in the privatization of its national energy company are being discussed in current negotiations. Dr. Alejandro Álvarez Béjar, economics professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico says these provisions will ensure Mexico is more dependent on oil and gas.

“NAFTA’s existing protections for oil and gas corporations are exacerbating Mexico’s dependency on fossil fuels, crowding out wind and solar power, and encouraging fracking,” says Dr. Béjar. “But proposals for NAFTA 2.0 could make matters even worse by locking in the deregulation of oil and gas in Mexico, creating long-lasting barriers to climate progress.”

The report is available at [ https://canadians.org/sites/default/fil ... luters.pdf ] -30-

Media contact

For media calls:
Dylan Penner, Media Officer
Cell: (613) 795-8685
Office: (613) 233-4487, ext. 249
E-mail: dpenner@canadians.org

For all other calls:
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[Oscar]

NAFTA fuelling climate change in North America - ADVISORY

[ https://canadians.org/media/nafta-fuell ... th-america ]

Media Advisory April 17, 2018

(PHOTO: Speakers)

Leading economists say deal is adding 1,488 megatonnes of emissions in Canada

As NAFTA negotiations close in on an agreement in principle, a new tri-national report by leading Canadian, Mexican and American economists will be launched at a tele-press conference on Tuesday morning. The report has found that NAFTA’s existing regulations prevent Canada from reducing almost 1,500 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, which would nix any chance Canada has of meeting its Paris Agreement commitments on climate change.

The report, NAFTA 2.0: For People or Polluters?, will be published Tuesday by the Council of Canadians, Sierra Club U.S., and Greenpeace Mexico. It details how the existing NAFTA binds all three countries to fossil fuel futures and how current negotiations make the problems worse.

What: Coinciding with the release of the report, NAFTA 2.0: For People Or Polluters?, U.S. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and the report’s authors will reveal the climate pollution locked in by NAFTA, lay out proposals for a climate-friendly NAFTA replacement, and expose new climate hazards hidden in Trump's NAFTA 2.0 agenda.

When: Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 11:15 a.m. ET

Call-In Details: (515) 739-1525, Access code: 412700

Speakers include:
• U.S. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal
• Ben Beachy, report author and director of the Sierra Club’s A Living Economy Program
• Gordon Laxer, report author, political economist, and founding director of the Parkland Institute at the University of Alberta in Canada

The report will be available the morning of the press conference. -30-

Media contact

For media calls:
Dylan Penner, Media Officer
Cell: (613) 795-8685
Office: (613) 233-4487, ext. 249
E-mail: dpenner@canadians.org

For all other calls:
National Office
Reception: (613) 233-2773
Toll-free: 1-800-387-7177
TTY line 613-233-3744
9:00 to 17:00 hours Eastern Time, Monday to Friday.