CSI ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES RECOMMENDATIONS

Environmental Services

The provision of environmental services encompasses a broad range of integrated operations

from research and design, analytical, and waste management and remediation services to

professional engineering and architecture services.  Together these provide the public and private

sectors with a means to improve industrial production methods throughout the value chain to

minimize pollution, and to deliver basic services for clean water, waste treatment, and sanitation.

The environmental services sector is growing in developed and developing countries due to the

demand for cleaner industrial production and disposal methods.

In international trade, the primary barriers to environmental service delivery are domestic laws

and regulations that impede market entry and limit competition for foreign firms.   Regulations

that constrain a firm to particular forms of commercial presence are an example.  Non 

transparent government procurement rules and restrictions on professionals  entry into the market

through quotas and ambiguous regulations inhibit competition. Advertising restrictions raise

marketing costs for foreign providers, and direct subsidies distort the market as well.

Negotiations offer an opportunity to liberalize trade in environmental services.  This can be

achieved by improving the classification of environmental services, rationalizing government

procurement rules, applying public comment procedures systematically in the development of

domestic laws and regulations that effect environmental service providers, and by ensuring that

professional licensing requirements are clear, transparent and rational.  Negotiators can also

create a more liberal trading environment by guaranteeing unrestricted market access and

national treatment to foreign service providers through their sector specific commitments.

Sector Status

The OECD has estimated that the global environment industry including both goods and services

represents over US $453 billion annually.  Environmental services including solid waste

management, hazardous waste management, consulting and environmental engineering

(including operations and maintenance), remediation and industrial services, analytical services,

and water treatment services represented 50% of the total global environment market in recent

years.  That global market is expected to continue to grow due to the demand for technologies

that provide cleaner production methods in developed markets and supply basic needs for clean

water, waste treatment, and sanitation in developing economies (OECD).  The demand for

technologies that help reduce energy consumption and improve the efficiency of energy use is

rising.  Remediation services that enable the cleanup of hazardous waste, spills, and air from

older industrial plants has growing demand.  Industry use of the International Organization for

Standardization (ISO) 14000 Standards for Environmental Management has also increased

demand for environmental services as an integrated component of manufacturing.

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