Alongside the WTO Public Forum, TESS collaborates each year with Geneva Trade Week, hosted by the Geneva Trade Platform at the Geneva Graduate Institute. We hosted a reception of trade and sustainability colleagues in Geneva for the WTO Public Forum, which included the launch of a compilation of expert views on reviving multilateralism, the high-level opening plenary of Geneva Trade Week on fostering international cooperation and collective action on trade, climate, and sustainable development, as well as a breakfast roundtable bringing together invited climate and trade experts from around the world.

International Cooperation on Trade, Climate, and Sustainable Development at the WTO: Unconventional Thinking & Pragmatic Options

09 September – 13:00-14-30 – Geneva Graduate Institute (Hybrid)

Hosted by TESS, the high-level opening plenary session of Geneva Trade Week focused on how to foster urgently-needed multilateral cooperation and collective action on the nexus of trade, climate, and sustainable development at the WTO. The event brought together a diverse group of leading international experts and Geneva-based ambassadors to the WTO to share their views on both pragmatic options and unconventional ideas on ways forward.

RECEPTION & LAUNCH: Reviving Multilateralism: From Vision to Action on Trade and Sustainability at the WTO

12 September – 19:00-21:00 – Geneva Graduate Institute, Terrasse de la Paix Restaurant

We celebrated three years of TESS! Since our creation, TESS has been fortunate to work across the trade, environment, and sustainable development communities with colleagues from around the world. This reception, hosted as part of Geneva Trade Week 2024, was our way of thanking and bringing together these communities in the margins of the WTO Public Forum.

We seizde this occasion to launch a compilation of our Synergies series entitled Reviving Multilateralism: From Vision to Action on Trade and Sustainability at the WTO, which brings together a diverse range of expert views on the state of play in the multilateral trading system and how to put sustainability at the top of the agenda.

Stakeholder Roundtable Breakfast on Trade, Climate, and Sustainable Development at the WTO

12 September – 08:30-10:00 – Geneva Graduate Institute

This annual stakeholder roundtable breakfast hosted by TESS brought together a broad range of experts and stakeholders working on the climate-trade-sustainable development interface to exchange views on priorities and ways forward for inclusive international cooperation on the climate-trade-sustainable development agenda.

Addressing Environmentally Harmful Agricultural Subsidies Through the WTO

12 September – 13:30-14:45 – Room D

Co-organized by the Permanent Mission of Australia to the WTO, the Permanent Mission of New Zealand to the WTO, and TESS, this session discussed approaches and pathways to address environmentally harmful agriculture subsidies in the multilateral trading system. It explored the types of collaborative action that could be envisaged to enable greater sustainability of global agri-food systems. The event will be webcast live.

In addition, at the WTO Public Forum, TESS Executive Director Carolyn Deere Birkbeck spoke at this session hosted by the OECD on greening supply chains and preparing the multilateral trading system for corporate accountability tools (10 September – 15:00-16:15 – Room F). TESS Senior Policy Advisor Yasmin Ismail was a jury member for the Geneva Debate on the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions organized by the Geneva Graduate Institute and the Geneva Trade Platform (11 September 2024 – 13:30-14-45 – Room W).

Reviving Multilateralism: From Vision to Action on Trade and Sustainability at the WTO

This series of expert views curated by TESS and published in our blog Synergies. The series is conceived as an opportunity for constructive reflection on the state of play in the multilateral trading system and how to put sustainability at the top of the agenda.