The Environmental Aspects Of The New Trans-Pacific Partnership

Details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership ("TPP") are now available. This is now an opportunity to see what was negotiated with respect to the environment.

Chapter 20 of the TPP focuses on the environment. The objectives as set out acknowledge the need to balance the interests of free trade with environmental protection. The TPP proceeds to achieve this balance through a scheme of general pledges and objectives, as well as issue-specific provisions. Notably, the TPP tries to strengthen existing multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in certain areas by requiring Parties to adhere to the standards developed by such agreements. This levels the playing field for industry and provides a consistently robust standard of environmental protection across the Parties. It also may help to force slow movers in the area of environmental regulation to speed up the pace of environmental protection in order to garner the benefits of the TPP.