Impact of Climate Change on Arab Countries - (IPCC) - Working ...

ARAB ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE 145
tional accord on renewable energy trade within
the WTO, and indirectly through the introduction
<strong>of</strong> environmental goods and services (EGS),
and through a call to legitimize the regulation <strong>of</strong>
process and production methods (PPMs).
III. ENERGY AS AN EMERGENT ISSUE IN
THE WTO SYSTEM
It is well known that oil, as well as coal, have long
been kept outside the purview <strong>of</strong> the GATT and
subsequently the WTO trading system. This was
not at the behest <strong>of</strong> the Arab oil-producing countries,
the majority <strong>of</strong> which were not members in
the GATT, and later, were certainly not deal
makers or breakers in the WTO. The production
<strong>of</strong> energy per se and its impact was never an
issue in negotiations v for multiple reasons: the
multilateral system was more concerned with
addressing import barriers rather than export
restrictions; such negotiations would fall victim
to the politicization <strong>of</strong> oil as a strategic product;
and perhaps most convincing, negotiating energy
in the trading system never constituted an interest
to the developed countries, which were unilaterally
setting the trade agenda. The developed
countries were neither keen on exchanging concessions
amongst themselves in oil or oil products,
nor was it in their interest to pry open markets
for oil. As such, the lack <strong>of</strong> interest on the
part <strong>of</strong> the developed countries in subjecting
energy to multilateral rules and regulations was
the predominant factor in keeping oil and coal
<strong>of</strong>f the trade agenda.
Another attempt to address the related issues <strong>of</strong>
oil and coal—the “Natural Resource-Based
Products” group established at the beginning <strong>of</strong>
1987—was also a non-starter. The expectations
<strong>of</strong> the group were overwhelming as it was mandated
with a range <strong>of</strong> non-negotiable issues, such
as the problems <strong>of</strong> dual pricing, access to supplies,
restrictive business practices, subsidies in
the coal sector and export restrictions leading to
trade distortions. Moreover, energy production