Förhållandet mellan handel och miljö är kontroversiellt inom The World Trade Organization (WTO) och arbetet på området präglas av motsättningar. WTO-kritiker har pekat på ett antal tvister inom WTO där WTO:s tvistlösningsorgan beslutat till nackdel för det land som har infört handelshindrande åtgärder för att skydda miljön. Utfallet kan tolkas som att miljöintresset förlorade mot handelsintresset. Det är dock tveksamt om man kan dra några slutsatser enbart genom att se till utfallet. Denna uppsats syftar till att bringa mera klarhet i hur WTO-reglerna balanserar frihandelsintresset mot miljöintresset.

Volvo Construction Equipment is one of the worlds largest manufacturer of heavymachinery. In Braås, Sweden, they develop and manufacture articulated haulers inseveral sizes. The biggest, the A40, is capable of loading almost 40 metric tonnes.These haulers have a bogie to distribute the forces of the load evenly onto the two axlesand there wheels. The bogie is constructed using a rigid balance beam on each side ofthe frame connecting the axles or an independent solution using hydropneumatics.An analysis has been made in order to establish the forces created during corneringand through the theory, an estimation of the extensive tyre wear and extra fuelconsumption has been made. All due to the effects of the tyres not being inline with thecornering radius.

An Internet application, VEDAIR, for estimation of air quality in regions with small-scale combustion of bio fuel has been developed by Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute with financing from Swedish Energy Agency and Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. The model contains user interface and a coupled model concept where concentrations of atmospheric pollutions are calculated for regional, urban and local contributions. In this report the model is described and a first study of air quality considering PM10 (particles with a diameter less than 10 µm) in two Swedish municipalities, Vänersborg and Gnosjö, is introduced.According to the result, there are areas with poor air quality even in smaller Swedish municipalities, mostly due to high emission from buildings with older wood heating furnace without hydraulic accumulator.In Vänersborg three areas were analysed in VEDAIR for the year 2003: Vargön, Mariedal and the downtown district. In the whole municipality the upper evaluation threshold for PM10, which is defined as 14 µg/m3 for annual average, was exceeded due to background contribution of particles. In all areas, however, the concentrations of PM10 were less than the environmental quality norms.