Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Mining · Global · 2013–2026

Trade rules curb green industrial policy; WTO rules against Indonesia nickel ban

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 1 not measured See the gaps

Trade challenges have struck down several green industrial policies, including India's solar local-content rule and Ontario's renewable tariff. A WTO panel also ruled against Indonesia's raw nickel export ban, and Public Citizen counts only two successful general-exception defences out of 48.

What?
Trade-law challenges have struck down several national green industrial policies, and a WTO panel ruled against Indonesia's raw nickel export ban. Public Citizen
Where?
Global; India; Ontario, Canada; Indonesia
When?
Ontario 2013; India 2016; Indonesia nickel panel November 2022; DS593 panel January 2025; Russia complaint May 2025
Who?
Gained
  • European Union — Brought the Indonesia nickel export ban case to the WTO
  • Russia — Brought a WTO case against the EU carbon border mechanism on 12 May 2025; the EU blocked a panel once in July 2026
Lost
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Trade rules treat local-content requirements and export bans as trade barriers unless a general exception applies, and the sources say few exceptions have succeeded. Public Citizen
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Public Citizen reported in February 2022 that only two of 48 defences under GATT Article XX and its services equivalent had succeeded, the US shrimp-turtle and dolphin-tuna cases.

The US Trade Representative's record shows India's solar programme lost a challenge over its local-content requirement in 2016, and Ontario's wind and solar tariff lost on the same grounds in 2013.

A WTO panel ruled in November 2022, in a case brought by the EU, that Indonesia's ban on raw nickel exports breached the rules; Indonesia appealed into a gap because the appellate body was not functioning.

A January 2025 panel report in the Indonesia palm oil dispute found that the EU had not reviewed its data before classing palm oil as high risk, and that French tax breaks for rapeseed and soy biofuels were discriminatory.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • None on record Not stated: the value of the Indonesia nickel dispute; no sum is given in the sources reviewed.
    • None on record Not stated: the outcome of Russia's carbon border complaint beyond the EU blocking a panel once.
    • None on record Not stated: whether Indonesia's request to suspend trade concessions against the EU was authorised.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    1. USTR WTO dispute record on India and Ontario renewable programmes
      Office of the United States Trade Representative ·

    Communities and civil society

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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