Economics for Earth
TPP text released. What now?
The Final TPP text, released on Thursday night, confirms all of our worst fears. The Environment Chapter is weak and lazy, encouraging rather than enforcing any regulations that may otherwise have served to protect the natural environment.
The General Commitments outlined at the beginning of the chapter state that nations must “strive to ensure that [their] environmental laws and policies provide for, and encourage, high levels of environmental protection and... continue to improve [their] respective levels of environmental protection”, but also that they must “recognise the sovereign right of each Party to establish its own levels of domestic environmental protection and its own environmental priorities, and to establish, adopt or modify its environmental laws and policies accordingly”. In other words, it would be nice if the participating nations had solid environmental laws, but nothing will be enforced.
Economics for Earth
Trans Pacific Partnership - Release the Text
Melbourne community groups and unions have joined the International week of action against the TPP, staging a rally outside the office of Veolia in Melbourne.Under the ISDS Clauses in “Free” Trade Agreements foreign corporations can sue sovereign governments where they claim domestic laws and regulations may diminish their profits. Workers’ wages and conditions, health and safety are not exempt.
Economics for Earth
Trans Pacific Partnership agreed
Friends of the Earth International 5 October 2015 ATLANTA, USA, October 5, 2015 – Today trade ministers from 12 countries negotiating the giant 'Trans Pacific Partnership' reached an agreement on a trade deal which sets the economic rules for 40 percent of the world economy.