28.10.2015

CETA & TTIP: What’s in store for energy and climate policy

Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

The ambitious Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU, and its "Siamese twin" Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the US and the EU are highly controversial. Proponents of CETA and TTIP hope for increases in trade, value creation, and employment, and promise not only better econo­mic performance but also an increased weight of the North-Atlantic nations, with their shared values, in a world where power pivots to Asia. Critics fear at least a roll-back of environ­mental, health, consumer & social protection, and some claim no less than the end of demo­cracy as we know it. It would be the end of the West and its values, sacrificed on the altar of corporate interests at times of accelerating environmental and social decay.

From what is known about CETA and TTIP: Will they help or hinder climate policy and the transformation of Atlantic energy systems away from dirty, dangerous & increasingly costly fossil and nuclear energy towards clean, safe & increasingly cheap renewable energy? What is good about the agreements, what is bad?Can any good be had without the bad? Can the good be had without CETA or TTIP? The interests and positions bridge the Atlantic; the controversy is not pitting Canadians and Americans against Europeans, instead it is mainly between corporate inter­ests and lobbyists, trade lawyers and negotiators on the one hand, and advocates of public interests and their elected representatives on the other. Trade in energy carriers, investment in energy resources and technologies, and the right and practical possibility of pursuing progressive energy and climate policy can clarify the Atlantic trade and investment controversy in the concrete, and perhaps help resolve it for the common good.

Partner: Canada – Europe Transatlantic Dialogue

Experte: R. Andreas Kraemer, Ecologic Institute

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
USA and Canada

WASHINGTON, DC
+1 202-478-4390
fesdc[at]fesdc.org

OTTAWA, ON
+1 202-478-4390
canada[at]fesdc.org

Latest Publications