Harnessing African Free Trade Area and WTO for Clean Energy Transition

IF 0.4 Q3 LAW

Law and Development Review Pub Date : 2022-07-11 DOI:10.1515/ldr-2022-0043

U. Turksen, A. Abukari

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Abstract

Abstract In 2018, the African Union adopted the Agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) with the aim of creating a common market for goods and services that would serve over 1.3 billion people in Africa. This is a paradigm shift towards a deeper continental integration in Africa whereby AfCFTA would be one of the biggest multilateral trading areas in the world. Although AfCFTA pursues sustainable development goals that embed reducing carbon dioxide emissions in line with international legal instruments on sustainability which applies to Member States of the WTO too, the legal provisions of AfCFTA and WTO that link trade and CET appear rather weak. This article provides a comparative analysis of AfCFTA and WTO legal frameworks with a focus on relationships, challenges and opportunities that incentivise clean energy transition (CET) as part of their sustainability agenda. The article contributes to the discourse on the interplay between regional trade and global trade laws in relation to climate change and sustainable development. As no previous study has compared the legal dynamics of the WTO and AfCFTA in relation to CET, the article provides a novel contribution to the efforts of unlocking the development potential of AfCFTA while enhancing global and regional multilateral trading systems.

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利用非洲自由贸易区和世贸组织促进清洁能源转型

2018年，非洲联盟通过了《非洲大陆自由贸易区协定》(AfCFTA)，旨在建立一个为非洲13亿多人口提供商品和服务的共同市场。这是向非洲大陆更深层次一体化的范式转变，非洲自由贸易区将成为世界上最大的多边贸易区之一。虽然非洲自贸协定追求的可持续发展目标包括减少二氧化碳排放，这与适用于WTO成员国的可持续性国际法律文书相一致，但非洲自贸协定和WTO将贸易与CET联系起来的法律规定显得相当薄弱。本文对非洲自贸协定和世界贸易组织的法律框架进行了比较分析，重点关注激励清洁能源转型(CET)作为其可持续发展议程一部分的关系、挑战和机遇。本文对有关气候变化和可持续发展的区域贸易和全球贸易法之间相互作用的论述作出了贡献。由于此前没有研究比较WTO和非洲大陆自由贸易区在CET方面的法律动态，本文为释放非洲大陆自由贸易区的发展潜力，同时加强全球和区域多边贸易体制提供了新的贡献。

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来源期刊

Law and Development Review LAW-

CiteScore

0.90

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Law and Development Review (LDR) is a top peer-reviewed journal in the field of law and development which explores the impact of law, legal frameworks, and institutions (LFIs) on development. LDR is distinguished from other law and economics journals in that its primary focus is the development aspects of international and domestic legal orders. The journal promotes global exchanges of views on law and development issues. LDR facilitates future global negotiations concerning the economic development of developing countries and sets out future directions for law and development studies. Many of the top scholars and practitioners in the field, including Professors David Trubek, Bhupinder Chimni, Michael Trebilcock, and Mitsuo Matsushita, have edited LDR issues and published articles in LDR. The journal seeks top-quality articles on law and development issues broadly, from the developing world as well as from the developed world. The changing economic conditions in recent decades render the law and development approach applicable to economic issues in developed countries as well as developing ones, and LDR accepts manuscripts on law and economic development issues concerning both categories of countries. LDR’s editorial board includes top scholars and professionals with diverse regional and academic backgrounds.