Travail de recherche/Working paper
| Résumé : | The dispute that opposed the EU and China regarding the import of photovoltaic cells and panels manufactured in China in 2012 and 2013 was a prominent illustration of potential clashes between trade and the environment. After a year of tit-for-tat escalation of the dispute, an amicable solution was found, which satisfied both governments but left the solar industry disappointed. How can we explain this dispute from the perspective of climate politics? Popular explanations of the dispute couched exclusively in terms of power politics do not offer satisfactory explanations. A more promising path of enquiry comes from the study of trade defence practice. In this light, the solar panel dispute reveals important political cleavages regarding climate change and the global political economy. This dispute crucially touched upon two important issues in the political economy of climate change: what does the global trade regime allow governments to do to steer the low carbon economy (green subsidies)? And does the fight against climate change warrants against the use of trade protection instruments in the ‘green’ field of global economic growth? This chapter explores how these issues were addressed legally and politically in the Solar Panel dispute. We conclude that the case did not bring satisfactory legal answers to these questions, while the political compromise that brought the dispute to an end reflected a fragile balance between conservative arguments favouring protection of domestic ‘infant’ green industries and liberal arguments favouring the free flow of environmental goods to promote their affordability. |
