Japan Challenges Canadian Renewable Energy Incentives at WTO

http://ictsd.org/i/news/biores/99472/

Japan launched dispute settlement proceedings against Canada at the World Trade Organization on 13 September by saying that the province of Ontario’s green energy plan unfairly pressures its producers of clean power to buy hardware from local manufacturers.

Specifically, Japan is challenging Ontario’s Feed-in Tariff Program (FIT), which enables the province to subsidise electricity operators that use renewable energy produced using stringent local content requirements. The “made-in-Ontario” requirement demands that up to 60 percent of all green energy project inputs be manufactured in the province as it strives to create local jobs.

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, launched an incentive program for renewable energy producers last October, aiming to create jobs and eliminate coal-fired power generators. The program has so far been very successful in drawing manufacturers to set up shop in Ontario. The biggest deal under the province’s green power plan involved South Korean giant Samsung Group. But many other equipment makers - based