The head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, published a 150-page report on the contribution of trade to the fight against climate change on Monday 7 November. Ms Okonjo-Iweala presented the document from COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh.
“WTO is here at COP27 because trade is one of the missing parts of the puzzle for more ambitious and effective climate action”, she said.
Trade policies are essential for climate change adaptation strategies, say the report’s authors. Trade provides, for example, access to innovation in green technologies, sharing of best practices and support for clean energy investments, according to the organisation. Furthermore, the authors consider the WTO to be an essential coordination platform for climate policies.
There is still room for improvement in this regard among the organisation’s members, the authors say. Trade-related climate measures taken at the national level can be better coordinated at the WTO. This would help with transparency, as well as the sharing of best practices. The WTO also wants to avoid unilateral climate measures, which can hamper trade.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/3xh (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)