Regional cooperation towards green Asia: Trade in low carbon goods and services

It is logical to argue that low carbon goods and services (LCGS) led growth is an imperative for the Asia Pacific countries, particularly for the emerging Asian economies, which are heavily dependent on imported energy and resources. Acknowledging this fact, recently, governments in the Asian region individually have been taking effective actions in the form of voluntary targets and policy commitments to improve the production and use of LCGS. While different sectoral policies, such as trade, environment, and investment policies that aim to facilitate private enterprises, households, and government agencies to contribute to green growth through the use of LCGS are being implemented at the national level, fears of competitive disadvantage mean that these need to be driven by global and regional frameworks that encompass all countries and sectors. It is in this context, the objectives of this study are (i) to measure the potential of major emerging Asian economies for exports in LCGS under the grand regional cooperation, partial regional cooperation, and stand alone scenarios; and (ii) to measure the impact of existing ‘behind the border’ constraints on potential exports in emerging Asian economies.