The challenge of developing robust methodologies to undertake ex ante and/or ex post sustainability assessments of trade policies and of developing effective policy responses remains largely unmet. Four international organizations have devoted significant resources to this task: the OECD, UNEP, the European Union, and the (North American) Commission for Environmental Cooperation. The OECD has done a fair amount of relevant research but has not undertaken the assessment of existing or proposed agreements . UNEP has taken a more pragmatic approach, funding several series of studies undertaken by institutes in developing and transition countries, generally limited to an individual country and a single sector or commodity . UNEP has also published a Handbook on integrated assessment of trade agreements and is preparing a further Handbook on agriculture issues . The EU has made a political decision to undertake sustainability assessments of all trade agreements and has supported work that aims to fulfil this commitment . This work has addressed theoretical issues even while attempting comprehensive assessments of proposed trade agreements The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has undertaken studies on three commodities that have proven controversial at least in part. Both the EU and the CEC have organized workshops on the assessment of trade agreements .

Several countries have also undertaken environmental assessments of trade agreements, in particular the United States and Canada, both of which have made political commitments to undertake such assessments. The relevant reports have generally been prepared by government agencies, with a public participation process in Canada. Perhaps the most intensively studied trade agreement has been China?s accession to the WTO, which has spawned numerous studies, many of which are still under way. These studies have generally taken a sectoral approach .

There is no evidence that any of this work has resulted in significant changes in either trade or environment or development policies, with the possible exception of the UNEP studies. The objective of this research is to develop methodologies that can be applied by policy makers in practice, in particular to meet the EU commitment to undertake sustainability impact assessments.

Most of this work has focused on trade in goods or on unilateral domestic liberalization measures. It is important to recognize that other elements of the trade agenda?defined as issues covered by existing or proposed multilateral, regional or bilateral agreements?have received much less attention, in particular trade in services, investment, and intellectual property rights. Methodologically each of these areas presents distinctive challenges. For lack of prior work in several key areas, it does not currently appear possible to cover all of the relevant issues in a single research project. There has been a spate of studies analyzing the environmental consequences of the North American Free Trade Agreement ten years on and there appears to be a robust consensus that NAFTA has neither led to a notable improvement in Mexico?s environmental performance?except in industries exhibiting high levels of new investment?nor has there been convincing evidence of ?pollution havens .?

It is important to take a step back and look at the constituent parts of most trade agreements so as to address the numerous methodological issues at that level. On the one hand the problem structure of each of the major trade agendas differs significantly. On the other hand the problem structure of environment and sustainable development may overlap with trade issues but still exhibits distinctive characteristics that require individual attention. The result is essentially a matrix of concern, in which it is necessary to fill the individual elements as and when this become possible.

This project aims to start down that road by taking a significant number of trade issues and developing appropriate methodological approaches to begin to assess the consequences for the environment and sustainable development of changes in economic policy in the direction of liberalization.

In a final step, the project aims to begin the process of re-integration of the methodologies to get closer to the goal of an integrated assessment of the sustainable development dimensions of comprehensive trade agreements.