Canada:
Environmental Groups Challenge U.S. On Solar
06 May 2014
McCarthy Tétrault LLP
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Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and other U.S. environmental groups
have submitted an open letter to Ambassador Demetrios Marantis,
arguing that the U.S. government should drop its planned World
Trade Organisation ("WTO") challenge of Indian solar subsidies under the
Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission
programme.
They take the view that promoting India's solar industry is
essential to limiting the effects of climate change and far
outweighs the commercial interests of the U.S. solar industry.
Interestingly, the letter goes on to argue that:
"Domestic content rules have
been a vital policy tool used to foster, nurture, and grow new
industries throughout history and can be used today to build and
support renewable energy industries. Particularly in the context of
the substantial challenges posed by climate change – most
recently highlighted by President Obama in his inaugural and State
of the Union addresses – it is critical that countries have
every tool at their disposal to transition to clean renewable
sources of energy, such as wind and solar power."
The letter can be found here.
According to a prior statement by the Office of the United States Trade
Representative:
"the United States strongly
supports the rapid deployment of solar energy around the world,
including with India. Unfortunately, India's discriminatory
policies in its national solar program detract from that successful
cooperation, raise the cost of clean energy, and undermine progress
toward our shared objective"
A previous post on domestic content issues and WTO rulings in
connection with Ontario's Feed-In Tariff Program can be found
here.
Stay tuned for further updates.
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