International trade in the environmental goods and service – Poland and the EU

The environmental goods and service sector (EGGS) has a positive environmental impact by reducing and minimizing pollutions, wastes, hazardous substances and the use of natural resources as well as promoting... [ view full abstract ]

The environmental goods and service sector (EGGS) has a positive environmental impact by reducing and minimizing pollutions, wastes, hazardous substances and the use of natural resources as well as promoting environmental-friendly technologies. The trade in the EGGS is a part into transformation to the sustainable economic and environmental policies e.g. circular economy, clean technology. The topic of green trade is widely discussed in the international forum because of the negotiation on the liberalization in trade EGGS, which can lead to reduce tariff barriers and customs duty. However there are many issues which are related to this topic such as: environmental products and service, which can be used for non-environmental goals and lack of common classification in EGGS. Nowadays there are few lists of environmental products and service developed by among others United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation(APEC), European Commission, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Therefore the development of the EGGS strategy is a difficult challenge for today's global economies. The exchange of these products and services counts still a small share in the turnover, but it shows a growing tendency. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate the tendencies in trade in EGGS between Poland and other EU countries, especially in the context of environmental policies which have been introduced for the last several years. In the paper there is also devised a model for selecting key commodities and pro-environmental services and goods related to the economic, social and environmental terms. The good practices developed may be a recommendation for the development of the EGGS sector in Poland.

Keywords: environmental goods, international trade, manufacturing sectors