Green goods trade agreement 'encourages sustainable investment'

"This agreement will promote the removal of obstacles to market access and will create jobs in this sector, bring down the cost of environmental technologies and encourage further sustainable investment," Willox said.

The B20 Coalition of industry groups from the G20 countries, including Ai Group, also welcomed the announcement as furthering its own priority of recognising the potential of green technologies, such as renewable energy, as global growth drivers.

The United States, European Union, China, Japan and other developed economies recently released a joint statement asserting: "We announce our commitment to achieve global free trade in environmental goods and pledge to work together, and with other WTO members similarly committed to liberalisation, to begin preparing for negotiations in order to advance this shared goal.

"We are convinced that one of the most concrete, immediate contributions that the WTO and its members can make to protect our planet is to seek agreement to eliminate tariffs for goods that we all need to protect our environment and address climate change."