A bad day for climate protection: European Parliament approves EU-New Zealand trade agreement
Berlin, 22.11.2023: “The presentation of the agreement as the EU’s most progressive trade agreement is a public deception”, explains Thomas Fritz, trade expert at PowerShift. This is because the agreed tariff reduction is aimed at increasing bilateral trade in some of the most climate-damaging goods. While the EU expects strong growth in auto, machinery and chemical exports, New Zealand benefits from tariff-favoured quotas for beef and dairy products. “The agreement thus rewards precisely those sectors with additional export options that have been able to evade the decarbonisation of their production for far too long”, says Bettina Müller, PowerShift trade expert.
While many of the beneficiary industries in the EU will benefit from free emission allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System until 2034, the agricultural sector in New Zealand and the EU is completely exempt from emissions trading. Since the agreement does not contain any commitments linking trade in the tariff-favoured goods to emission reductions in the respective sectors, there is a risk of even higher greenhouse gas emissions. “Given the climate crisis, it is cynical for some MEPs to celebrate the EU-New Zealand deal as the new gold standard”, criticises Thomas Fritz.
Then there are the disproportionate Transport-related emissions given the long distance of 18,000 kilometers between Europe and New Zealand. “Even the official impact assessment of the EU Commission found that the trade agreement will lead to an increase in transport-related emissions”, explains Bettina Müller.
The EU-New Zealand free trade negotiations were launched in 2018 and finalised in mid-2022. After the agreement had already been approved by the Council of the EU in July of this year, the EU Parliament followed today. Fifty civil society organizations have been involved in Joint Declaration calls on the European Parliament to refuse to give its consent to the agreement.
Press contacts
Thomas Fritz, trade expert, +49 (0)30 275 937 38 , thomas.fritz@power-shift.de
