During London Climate Action Week 2026, ODI Global, the Remaking Trade Project, the African Future Policies Hub, Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs (TESS) and the LSE Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa co-hosted a high-level conversation that brought together policymakers, trade experts, academics, and private sector representatives to explore how global trade governance must evolve to remain inclusive, sustainable, and equitable in a multipolar world.
Event Date:
22 June 2026
Event Location:
London, UK
Time
14:00 - 17:00 BST, GMT+1
Venue
Surveyors House, 12 Great George Street, London, SW1P 3AD and Online
Overview
Welcoming Remarks and Keynote Address
Session I: Trade, Climate and Security in a Multipolar World
- Climate change, economic security, and trade policy are becoming increasingly intertwined. Governments are challenging established trade norms in pursuit of strategic autonomy, green industrialization and control over critical minerals and clean technologies. Alongside, there is growing recognition among a diversity of governments on the importance of trade strategies for achieving their climate goals, including enhanced cooperation on trade and trade policies as key to driving action on climate mitigation, adaptation, and climate-resilient development.
Session II: Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanisms – Balancing Climate Ambition and Development
- With the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) entering full implementation in 2026 and the UK’s CBAM due to become operational in 2027, border carbon measures are rapidly reshaping global trade. While designed to prevent carbon leakage and support decarbonization, CBAMs have been criticized as potentially protectionist and risk imposing new burdens on developing country exporters.
Closing remarks
Welcoming Remarks and Keynote Address
Welcoming remarks by Nicole Itano from the Remaking Trade Project, followed by a keynote address by Roslyn Ng'eno from the AfCFTA Secretariat.
Session I: Trade, Climate and Security in a Multipolar World
Issues explored: 1) What rising fragmentation means for climate action, sustainable development and the global trading system, 2) The implications of trade-related climate measures for developing countries and how trade-related cooperation on climate can be enhanced, 3) Prospects for WTO reform and attention to sustainability priorities in a shifting geopolitical landscape, and 4) The growing role of regional and plurilateral trade initiatives as laboratories for cooperation on climate and trade.
Speakers: Ese Owie, Senior Advisor, Remaking Trade for a Sustainable Future Project (Moderator); Jan Yves Remy, Senior Advisor to the Director-General of the WTO; Carolyn Deere Birkbeck, Executive Director, Forum on Trade, Environment & the SDGs (TESS); Faizel Ismail, Emeritus Professor and former Director of the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town; and Chris Basiurski, Deputy Director, Multilateral and World Trade Organization, Department for Business and Trade.
Session II: Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanisms – Balancing Climate Ambition and Development
Issues explored: 1) How the UK can design and implement its CBAM in a way that supports development alongside climate ambition; 2) How developing countries can navigate and respond to the rise of sustainability-linked trade measures, 3) Strategies to mitigate the risks of regulatory fragmentation and overlapping reporting requirements, and 4) The intersection of CBAMs with emerging economic security strategies.
Speakers: Jodie Keane, Principal Research Fellow, ODI Global (Moderator); Basile Chartier, Founder and Director, CHART ROOM; Janet Macharia, CEO, Trade Negotiations and Investment Forum (TNIF); Kasonde Chituta, Researcher, African Future Policies Hub (AFPH); and Bernardo Arce, Research Officer, ODI Global.
Co-hosted with
