It’s a first: the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, inaugurated ‘Trade Day’ at COP28 on Monday 4 November. This is the first time that trade has been a topic on the official agenda of a COP.
A number of topical issues were on the agenda, including the importance of supply chain resilience, the weight of global trade and the green transition of the finance sector.
Speaking at the opening of the day’s events, Ms Okonjo-Iweala stressed that the international community was still well short of the objectives of the Paris Agreement. She added that trade can help to further reduce emissions and redirect environmentally harmful subsidies to support climate action. “We cannot achieve the goal of zero without trade, because trade is essential to disseminate low-carbon technologies wherever they are needed”, she insisted.
The WTO has sought to advocate trade as part of the fight against climate change, and to research and analyse the complex relationship between climate change and global trade.
On the occasion of this thematic day, the WTO also presented its ‘toolbox’ for the world’s governments, as part of their efforts to achieve global climate objectives.
This new publication examines how integrating trade policy options, such as revising import tariffs on low-carbon products, can “help economies mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt to its consequences”.
See the WTO report: https://aeur.eu/f/9xs (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)