Trade - WTO: German apples no better for the climate than imported apples
According to studies by the World Trade Organization(WTO), an apple produced in Germany is not always more climate-friendly than an apple transported over 18,000 kilometers from New Zealand, for example. "There's a big misunderstanding here," says German WTO chief economist Ralph Ossa to the German Press Agency.
"Most people think that a regional product is necessarily good for the environment." This is not always true if the total CO2 emissions of a product are taken into account. "Apples from New Zealand in winter are greener than apples from Germany because the German apples have been in cold storage and that consumes energy," says Ossa.
Transport emissions only make up a relatively small proportion of a product's total emissions, said Ossa. In the case of food, this is ten percent on average. However, there are big differences in production emissions. "If a vegetable or fruit is in season in another country and not in ours, and it is either grown in a heated greenhouse or has been in cold storage here, then the production emissions of locally produced goods are often higher than in the other country," says Ossa. "So it's not at all true that importing is always bad."
Global CO2 tax
Global trade could play a role in reducing climate-damaging emissions, says Ossa. To achieve this, we need to trade differently, not less. "Trade can be an important driver of climate policy," he says. This would work via a global CO2 price, for example. This refers to a levy on emissions caused during production. According to a WTO simulation with a global CO2 tax of around 90 euros per tonne of CO2, emissions would fall. More than a third of the savings would be due to products being imported from countries that can produce them in a particularly green way.
So far, CO2 prices only exist regionally, for example in Europe. According to the German government's plans, the CO2 price in Germany is set to rise every year, reaching 45 euros per tonne in 2024. With a global tax, brown products - i.e. those with high emissions - would be more expensive and less traded, while green products would be cheaper, says Ossa. This would have the effect of making construction with wood cheaper than with concrete, for example. It would also change global trade: "Countries would increasingly specialize in products in which they can produce with relatively low emissions," says Ossa.
The WTO, which has 164 member countries, aims to promote sustainable global trade with low tariffs and uniform rules for the benefit of all. It is committed to a global CO2 price.
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Source: www.stern.de
