At a Transatlantic Luncheon on 15 January 2008, Lisa Alf, Claudia Assmann, Marianne Bauer, and Jenny Weinkopf from Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC introduced and discussed key aspects of a two-semester project on approaches to environmental impact assessments of trade agreements in the United States and the European Union. As a partner in the "Luce Environmental Practicum" Initiative at SAIS, Ecologic hosted the four students.

In their initial remarks, the four graduate students highlighted the differences between the EU’s Sustainability Impact Assessments (SIAs) and the US’ Environmental Reviews (ERs). Both concepts were introduced in 1999 prior to the WTO ministerial meetings in Seattle. The most apparent difference is found in the scope of analysis in the two approaches: While SIAs covers economic, social, and environmental impacts as the three dimensions of sustainable development, ERs focus exclusively on environmental impacts. In addition, the legal mandate for ERs only cover the assessment of impacts within the United States while the EU’s SIAs put most of the emphasis on impacts in its partner countries. Finally, in the US the same federal agency, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), is responsible for conducting ERs and leading trade negotiations, whereas in the EU the implementation of SIAs is outsourced to independent consultants.

Taking into consideration these differences, the subsequent discussion touched upon the following issues:

• Implications and underlying reasons for different methodological approaches in the EU and the US
• Strengths, limits and shortcomings of both concepts
• The practical relevance of conducting environmental impact assessments for trade negotiations

The final report is now available for download.

Further Links:

• The International Policy program (IP) at SAIS
• Ecologic Project: Trade policy and climate change
• Ecologic Publication: What contribution can trade policy make towards combating climate change?