Trade, Environment and the Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technology

It is generally understood that preservation of global and local environments will require the internalisation of currently external environmental costs. This need has manifested itself in both multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and in the formulation of environmentally orientated product and processing standards. Such standards are often devised to encourage producers to use environmentally sound technology (EST) or change their product or processing designs so that they are more environmentally friendly.