In unsurprising news, a report has found that so-called free trade deals like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) would make it nearly impossible to reach the goals set out by the Paris climate agreement.
If passed, the TPP would impair the treaty’s mission by supporting high-emission industries like fossil fuels and agriculture while suppressing climate action at the national and local levels, according to the report, published Tuesday by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) just days after U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping formally signed the agreement at the Group of 20 (G20) summit.
“Trade deals are driving a form of corporate-led globalization that is highly extractive of natural resources and completely ignores the damage it does to the climate,” said report author Ben Lilliston, IATP’s director of climate strategies. “If we don’t reform our trade agreements and reject the TPP, it will be nearly impossible to reach our climate goals agreed to in Paris.”