Join us at the WTO Public Forum (17–18 September) and Geneva Trade Week (15–18 September), where TESS will be organizing and participating in a range of events on trade and sustainability!
The WTO Public Forum programme includes a number of events on trade and sustainability bringing a diverse range of perspectives and issues from around the world, and will also feature a Trade Policy Hub “designed to foster engagement between researchers and policy professionals.” On 18 September, TESS will be co-organizing with WWF a session on trade agendas for nature, climate, and sustainable development (see details below).
Alongside the WTO Public Forum, TESS collaborates each year with Geneva Trade Week, hosted by the Geneva Trade Platform at the Geneva Graduate Institute. On 15 September, we look forward to leading the high-level opening plenary and organizing an event on sustainable agriculture and trade, as well as welcoming trade and sustainability colleagues in Geneva to an invitation-only reception. On 16 September, we will be organizing with partners a series of expert roundtables across the day on specific issues at the nexus of trade and sustainability—notably on circular economy, net zero transitions, water, and subsidies (see details below).
On 17 September, we will host our annual stakeholder breakfast roundtable on the sidelines of the Public Forum, bringing together climate and trade experts from around the world. The following morning we will host another breakfast roundtable, where experts will review recent thinking on strategies for bolstering international cooperation on sustainable agriculture and trade. These two events are by invitation only.
If you are attending the Public Forum or Geneva Trade Week and have a shared interest in fostering international cooperation on trade, environment, and sustainable development, we would welcome the opportunity to be in touch. Please contact us if you would like to participate in or find out more about our events or schedule a meeting during the week.
We look forward to stimulating discussions on how to move the trade and sustainability agenda forward!
TESS at Geneva Trade Week
Monday 15 September
Taking the Pulse on the Trade and Sustainability Agenda: Where to Next for International Cooperation?
11:00–12:30 CEST – Geneva Graduate Institute, C1
To open the 2025 edition of Geneva Trade Week, this plenary organized by TESS aims to shed light on the prospects for fostering urgently needed inclusive cooperation on trade and trade-related policies in support of sustainable development, recognizing the complexities of the current geopolitical and trade landscape. The event will bring together a diverse group of leading international experts and Geneva-based ambassadors to the WTO to spur discussion on a proactive, forward-looking agenda on trade and sustainability, and how and where to advance it.
Hybrid Event. Register.
Fostering Opportunities for Cooperation on Sustainable Agriculture and Trade: So, How Do We Get There?
15:30–17:00 CEST – Geneva Graduate Institute, C1
This expert roundtable, organized by TESS, will provide an opportunity to explore key aspects of the trade and sustainable agriculture interface. The event will take stock of what is working, what is not, and where there are opportunities to foster cooperation that will achieve real, lasting positive impacts on sustainability in all of its three dimensions—social, environmental, and economic. Topics for discussion will include fostering sustainable agricultural production, consumption, and trade; ending environmentally harmful agricultural subsidies; ensuring policy coherence between development, trade, and environmental objectives; and promoting food, nutrition, and livelihood security.
Hybrid Event. Register.
Reception
17:30–19:30 CEST – Geneva Graduate Institute, Restaurant Terrasse de la Paix
Since our creation, TESS has been fortunate to work across the trade, environment, and sustainable development communities with dedicated colleagues from around the world. This reception is our way of thanking and bringing together these communities.
Event by invitation only.
Tuesday 16 September
Fostering Inclusive Cooperation on Circular Economy, Trade and Sustainable Development: Prospects and Sectoral Insights
11:00–12:30 CEST – Geneva Graduate Institute, C1
This expert roundtable, organized by TESS, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Economic Forum, Circular Innovation Lab, and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, will explore the prospects and concrete opportunities for fostering inclusive cooperation on the circular economy, trade, and sustainable development interface. Following an opening discussion on ways forward on circular economy in a fragmented international trade landscape, the panellists will focus on opportunities to bolster cooperation in key sectors, such as textiles, plastics, and critical minerals, and in relation to a circular, sustainable bioeconomy.
Hybrid Event. Register.
Water, Trade, and Sustainable Development: Exploring the Water Footprints of Traded Food, Textiles, and Minerals
14:30–16:00 CEST – Geneva Graduate Institute, C1
This expert roundtable, organized by TESS and Chatham House, will explore the links between trade and sustainability in relation to water—the world's most valuable natural resource. It will provide an opportunity to hear findings of Chatham House research on pressures on fresh water associated with globally traded goods in three sectors—food and agriculture, textiles, and metals and mining—and the role that trade cooperation can play in reducing water-related risks. The roundtable will also provide an opportunity to reflect on the findings of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water and their implications for both trade and sustainability.
Hybrid Event. Register.
Trade and the Transition to Net Zero: Scenarios and Pathways for Climate Resilient Development in Key Sectors
16:30–18:00 CEST – Geneva Graduate Institute, C1
This expert roundtable, organized by TESS, will feature the launch of a new compilation of sectoral briefing notes from TESS’s policy series on Trade, climate, and net zero pathways: Scenarios and implications for developing countries and climate resilient development. The authors of selected notes will present key insights from their research on their respective sectors—including energy, digital, critical minerals, textiles and garments, and more—followed by reflections from a number of developing country trade delegates on priorities and options for trade cooperation.
Hybrid Event. Register.
Study Group on Reforming Subsidy and Industrial Policy Rules for a Sustainable Future
16:30–18:00 CEST – Geneva Graduate Institute, C2
The Study Group on Reforming Subsidy and Industrial Policy Rules for a Sustainable Future is an independent, expert-driven initiative analysing how subsidy and industrial policy instruments can be better aligned with global economic and environmental challenges. TESS is pleased to be providing a space for an internal meeting of this group as an opportunity to take stock of the work undertaken so far and plan upcoming activities.
Event by invitation only.
Wednesday 17 September
Stakeholder Roundtable Breakfast on Trade, Climate, and Sustainable Development
08:30–10:00 CEST – Geneva Graduate Institute, Restaurant Terrasse de la Paix
This annual stakeholder roundtable breakfast hosted by TESS will bring together a broad range of experts and stakeholders working to exchange views on priorities and ways forward for inclusive international cooperation on the nexus of climate, trade, and sustainable development.
Event by invitation only.
Thursday 18 September
Breakfast Discussion on Emerging Issues on Trade and Sustainable Agriculture
08:30–10:00 CEST – Geneva Graduate Institute, Restaurant Terrasse de la Paix
This breakfast discussion, hosted by TESS in partnership with WWF-UK, will bring together a range of leading experts to review the preliminary recommendations from a draft WWF-UK report on Developing trade policy incentives for sustainable agriculture. The aim of the discussion will be to test some of the policy options envisaged in the draft report and discuss options to forge ahead and advance relevant recommendations.
Event by invitation only.
TESS at the WTO Public Forum
Thursday 18 September
Trade Agendas for Nature, Climate, and Sustainable Development
15:15–16:30 CEST – WTO, Room Library
This Public Forum session, co-organized by TESS and WWF, will spur forward-looking strategic dialogue on narratives and policy agendas that would move forward an international trading system that places nature and people at its heart. A joint TESS-WWF discussion paper on Accelerating progress on nature, climate change, and sustainable development in a shifting international trading system will be launched during the session.
Recognizing the systemic challenges and opportunities that sustainability issues present for the international trading system, the session will be an opportunity to hear key takeaways from the paper and suggestions from a diverse panel of speakers on pathways and entry points for strengthening trade cooperation in ways that reverse biodiversity loss, support the climate agenda, and advance implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Public event.
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During the week, the TESS team will also be participating in a wide range of events organized by partners. These include a briefing session on border carbon adjustments and a roundtable on green industrial policies organized by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), a roundtable on green industrial policy in the Global South organized by Boston University Global Development Policy Center, a breakfast discussion on steel decarbonization and CBAM in India organized by Tulip Consulting, and an event on WTO reform hosted by CUTS International.
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Launch of TESS Publications
During the Public Forum and Geneva Trade Week, TESS will proudly launch two new publications.
Accelerating Progress on Nature, Climate Change, and Sustainable Development in a Shifting International Trading System
This discussion paper, published in partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), aims to spur reflection on the potential building blocks of a new narrative and policy agenda on international trade that places nature and people at its heart. In so doing, it aims to inform forward-looking strategic dialogue on potential pathways and entry points to support global policy and advocacy work on a trade agenda that could reverse biodiversity loss, support the climate agenda, and advance sustainable development in all three of its dimensions—environmental, economic, and social.
The paper will be launched on 18 September on the occasion of the Public Forum session TESS is co-organizing with WWF on Trade agendas for nature, climate, and sustainable development.
Trade, Climate, and Net Zero Pathways: Scenarios and Implications for Developing Countries and Climate-Resilient Development
This series of sectoral briefing notes commissioned by TESS aims to provide an overview of current and anticipated transformations in trade in the context of the unfolding climate crisis and the international community’s climate action agenda, focusing on potential scenarios for particular sectors and implications for developing countries and climate-resilient development. The sectors covered in the series include agriculture, carbon markets, critical minerals, digital transformation, energy transition, fisheries, heavy industries, shipping, textiles, and tourism, each authored by experts in these respective fields.
A compilation of the entire series will be launched on 16 September at the expert roundtable organized by TESS on Trade and the transition to net zero: Scenarios and pathways for climate resilient development in key sectors, where a number of authors will be participating as panellists.
