In this speech to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation's (CEC's) Joint Public Advisory Committee, IISD President Scott Vaughan discusses the shifting nature of the debates over NAFTA regarding the relationship between trade and the environment.

He argues that the worst fears of environmentalists did not come to pass. Nonetheless, while the political moment for NAFTA may have passed, the CEC still has an important role in at least three areas: Energy and climate from a North American perspective, cumulative environmental impacts and environmental data.