Green Subsidies and the WTO

82 Pages Posted: 21 Sep 2014 Last revised: 8 Oct 2014

See all articles by Steve Charnovitz

Steve Charnovitz

George Washington University - Law School

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Date Written: September 1, 2014

Abstract

This paper provides a detailed explanation how the law of the World Trade Organization regulates environmental subsidies with a focus on renewable energy subsidies. The paper begins by discussing the economic justifications for such subsidies and the criticisms of them and then gives examples of different categories of subsidies. Next the paper provides an overview of the relevant WTO rules and caselaw, including the recent Canada-Renewable Energy case. The paper also makes specific recommendations for how WTO law can be improved, and discusses the existing literature discussing reform proposals. The study further finds that because of a lack of clarity in WTO rules, for some clean energy subsidies, a government will not know in advance whether the subsidy is WTO-legal.

Keywords: International trade, international law, environmental protection, climate, subsidies, trade law

Suggested Citation

Charnovitz, Steve, Green Subsidies and the WTO (September 1, 2014). Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Research Paper No. RSCAS 2014/93, GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 2014-51, GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2014-51, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2498518 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2498518

Steve Charnovitz (Contact Author)

George Washington University - Law School ( email )

2000 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20052
United States

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