considered protectionist. China, in turn, filed a complaint in 2012 targeting various
renewable energy programs in the European Union, singling out Italy and Greece
(it has also threatened to bring a dispute against renewables subsidies in five U.S.
states). Washington, meanwhile, has launched a World Trade Organization attack
on India's ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, a large, multiphase
solar support program — once again, for containing provisions, designed to
encourage local industry, considered to be protectionist. As a result, brand-new
factories that should be producing solar panels are now contemplating closure. Not
to be outdone, India has signaled that it might take aim at state renewable energy
3
programs in the U.S."
This is distinctly bizarre behavior to exhibit in the midst of a climate emergency.
Especially because these same governments can be counted upon to angrily
denounce each other at United Nations climate summits for not doing enough to
cut emissions, blaming their own failures on the other's lack of commitment. Yet
rather than compete for the best, most effective supports for green energy, the
biggest emitters in the world are rushing to the WTO to knock down each other' s
windmills.
As one case piled on top of another, it seemed to me that it was time to delve
back into the trade wars. And as I explored the issue further, I discovered that one
of the key, precedent- setting cases pitting "free trade" against climate action was
playing out in Ontario, Canada — my own backyard. Suddenly, trade law became
a whole lot less abstract.