What’s Beyond Energy? How to Integrate Environmental and Health Challenges in Climate Change Agreements: The Case of Livestock Production and the Feedstuffs Trade

Abstract

Climate change policy is focused on the de-carbonization of the economy. Little is said about the impact of agriculture on climate change beyond CO2 emissions, and how our model of food consumption, too focused as it is on livestock products, also has other negative impacts on the environment and human health. This impact, due to the intensive international trade of feedstuff, is not equally distributed between the global south (feed producer) and protein importing countries (meat consumers). Consumers are not well informed about the environmental/health impact of feedstuff production, particularly abroad, which constitutes a typical case of market dysfunction due to information asymmetry. This paper explores the possibilities offered by WTO law to introduce label/traceability requirements in animal feed/food chains, in particular the evolution of the case-law on process and production methods and the likeness test. It concludes that there are no legal obstacles in international trade law to establish an integrated (climate change/health) information system to explain consumers the comprehensive impact of their choices, domestically and abroad, along the whole production chain.

Keywords: environmental risks; health risks; feedstuff/livestock production; international environmental law; international trade law; WTO law; labelling