Selected as part of the inaugural WTO Public Forum Curated Conversations series—hosted by the Geneva Trade Platform in partnership with the World Trade Organization (WTO)—this curated conversation is organized by the Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs (TESS). The event will explore how new forms of cooperation at the nexus of trade and finance policy can help achieve better outcomes for nature and biodiversity.
Objectives
Discussions in this curated conversation will focus on practical opportunities to bridge conversations among financial actors and the trade community with a view to identifying specific opportunities for shaping new trade narratives and agendas to link nature-positive transitions to real economy benefits and to accelerate nature-positive outcomes at scale.
Guiding questions
- How can trade cooperation contribute to unlocking investment opportunities for nature-positive outcomes and sustainable development?
- How can we move towards more policy coherence to align trade and finance interventions to incentivize investment for nature-positive outcomes and sustainable development?
- What types of partnerships are needed to ensure that trade and trade policies contribute to progress in this area?
The goal of this Curated Conversation is to "connect the dots" between different initiatives and processes, identify opportunities for collaboration among diverse stakeholders, and explore avenues for enhanced international cooperation on trade and finance to support nature-positive outcomes.
Background
The increasing frequency of climate and nature shocks and associated impacts on economic outcomes and fiscal stress highlight the urgency to identify and implement strategies to conserve, protect and restore nature and ecosystems. At the same time, the shifting geopolitical landscape and increased market fragmentation present challenges to international cooperation. Accelerating progress on nature, climate and sustainable development in the current context will require new narratives and action-oriented policy agendas.
Some progress is being made to shape solutions for nature within the finance and trade communities. Financial actors are increasingly seeking to align financial systems to deliver sustainable growth and resilience, including through the design of new financial instruments, investments in data and analytics, and the identification of enabling policies. Recent conversations in multilateral settings, including the G20, have explicitly recognized the importance of global standards and mutual recognition frameworks that accelerate market access and investment flows. However, given the urgency of the problems, more effort is needed to create the conditions to mobilize collective action for transformative change.
Enhanced dialogue among finance, trade, and environment communities is essential to identify where cooperative action on finance and trade will make the biggest difference for nature, climate, and sustainable development.
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