WTO and UN Environment join forces to make trade work for the environment

WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo and UN Environment Executive Director Erik Solheim issued a new study on October 2 identifying ways to ensure that trade policies support a healthy environment and promote sustainable development.

The joint publication entitled “Making trade work for the environment, prosperity and resilience” will be discussed at a high-level session at the WTO’s Public Forum on 2 October, bringing together leaders from business, government and civil society.

The joint publication details how governments can work together to ensure that trade and a healthy environment reinforce each other. It makes the case that opening up trade in environmental goods and services is a triple win for the economy, the environment and development. According to the Business and Sustainable Development Commission, new business opportunities brought about by a more sustainable world economy could be worth an estimated US$ 12 trillion annually by 2030.

“To ensure that trade is sustainable while continuing to deliver benefits for jobs, growth and economic prosperity, governments must work to make the trade and environmental policies complementary. Examples of this could include agreeing deep cuts in fish-depleting subsidies and the scaling back of trade barriers on environmental goods and services. The WTO is the place to deliver progress on these issues,” said Director-General Azevêdo.

The joint publication emphasizes that to maximise the contribution of trade to a better and more resilient environment, action would be needed in the following areas:

• collaborative work focusing on strengthening multilateral cooperation and governance,
• fostering private-public partnerships to facilitate market-oriented approaches that allow trade and environment to be mutually supportive,
• encouraging national policymakers to work together across environment and trade domains,
• supporting decision-makers from the world’s poorest countries, along with vulnerable groups and under-represented communities, in preserving natural assets,
• delivering inclusive, gender-sensitive outcomes for environmental and trade policy to support broader goals within the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda,
• raising awareness among stakeholders on the role of trade in environmental sustainability and resilience to climate change.

The partnership between the two bodies was announced in January 2018. It seeks to highlight practical ways to bring trade and the environmental policies closer together.

Original source: WTO
Published on 2 October 2018