10 - Silent Implications of US-Tuna II: Greening Market Behaviour through the WTO

Summary

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO's) dispute settlement mechanism affects action and planning of market agents (governmental or private institutions). Beyond this, its appellate body influences decision-making and market-shaping standards for international trade, including incentives for green technologies in products and production methods. The chapter analyses the US-Tuna II decision and its consequences for the market greening process. Rather than stressing a divide between classical liberalism’s perspectives on trade and current sustainable development, it argues that a nuanced approach needs to acknowledge compatibility between both. Such decisions emit a strong signal for the adoption of environment-friendly practices, and discuss how market agents may perceive this as a competitive advantage opportunity. Through a legal framework, increasing environmental law compliance and positive externalities are desirable, to generate a resilient system of technological change and innovation among entrepreneurs, especially when the results lead to a cascade effect in the environment-trade relationship.