Our Research
Completed Projects
Sustainability Impact Assessment of Proposed WTO Multilateral Trade Negotiations, SIA-Trade (Phase One, Phase Two and Phase Three)
Phases One, Two and Three of the SIA of Proposed WTO Multilateral Trade Negotiations project contracted by the European Commission (DG Trade) have been completed. The SIA Final Report for the Global Overview of the WTO Doha Development Agenda and for the Fisheries Sector which completes Phase Three have now been submitted to the European Commission. These are intended to inform negotiations on the completion of the DDA. The Fisheries sector SIA study has been undertaken by the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) at University of Greenwich, in association with IARC.
A Public Meeting to discuss the final draft reports was held in Brussels, 16 June 2006.
For latest developments visit the Sustainability Impact Assessment and Trade Web Portal.
Sustainability Impact Assessment of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area, SIA-EMFTA (Phase One and Phase Two)
The Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, held in Barcelona in November 1995, set the year 2010 as the target date for the gradual establishment of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area (EMFTA). This is to be achieved by means of the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements negotiated between the European Union and its Mediterranean Partners, together with Free Trade Agreements between the Mediterranean Partners themselves.
The European Union has set itself the objective of achieving sustainable development internally and promoting such development worldwide. In this context, trade liberalisation is not perceived as an end in itself, but rather as an essential tool contributing to sustainable development. The impact of trade measures needs to be assessed, therefore, in terms of environment, social and economic effects.
The European Commission has, therefore, recently commissioned an independent sustainability impact assessment (SIA) study of EMFTA which will examine the potential impacts of agreed trade measures on sustainable development. The major objective of this SIA study is to provide a reliable and widely accepted analysis and understanding of the impact of trade measures on sustainable development, in the context of ongoing and future trade negotiations for the EMFTA.
The study is being undertaken in three phases over a period of three years, 2004-2006, and the work is being undertaken by the SIA-EMFTA consortium. The first and second phases of the study are now complete.
For more information on the SIA-EMFTA project and to download available reports visit the Sustainability Impact Assessment and Trade Web Portal.
The Implications of Trade and Investment Liberalisation for Sustainable Development: Review of Literature
The UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs commissioned IARC in 2004 to undertake a comprehensive and critical review of the literature relating to the implications for sustainable development, in particular the environmental and social dimensions, of the greater liberalisation of international trade and investment flows. The research was commissioned to inform DEFRA's contribution to the Economics Paper entitled "Liberalisation and Globalisation: Maximising the Benefits of Trade and Investment", which supports DTI's Trade and Investment White Paper.
Go to our reports page reports publicationspage to view this report.