Trade and climate change mitigation and adaptation: Regional perspectives

The Forum on Trade, Environment and the SDGs (TESS), Centre for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh (CPD), the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services, Barbados (SRC) held a session on “Trade and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: Regional Perspectives” at 09:00-10:15 CEST on 30 September 2022 during the WTO Public Forum 2022 (27-30 September 2022) at the World Trade Organization, Geneva. 

The session aimed to contribute to the discussion on how to create a more resilient, sustainable and inclusive trading system and particularly to sub-theme 2 of the Public Forum 2022 on delivering a trade agenda for a sustainable future, by highlighting regional perspectives and priorities on the role of international trade cooperation in supporting climate mitigation and adaptation and climate-resilient sustainable development.

While a lot of discussion is already taking place on the trade and climate change interface, the debate is still largely driven by concerns of more advanced economies in OECD countries with only limited attention paid to priorities in developing countries. It also aims to contribute to re-framing the debate by identifying priority area for action and recommendations for the multilateral trading system from the perspective of least developed countries, the Caribbean region, South America and Africa.

Speakers presented the key findings and recommendations from a series of research papers commissioned by TESS in partnership with regional organisations and think tanks with the aim of providing regional perspectives on the nexus of climate, trade and sustainable development.

The session saw presentations from speakers about their research on priorities of least developed countries, the Caribbean region, South America and Africa. [Further commissioned papers are underway with regional partners on perspectives from the ASEAN region and from South Asia.]

Questions addressed included: 

• What are the key climate change adaptation and mitigation priorities in developing countries?
• How can trade and trade-related policy measures support adaptation and mitigation efforts in those regions and advance climate-resilient development?
• What are the implications for international cooperation on trade in general and for the WTO in particular?

Watch the session:

Speakers:

• Professor Faizel ISMAIL, Director, Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town, South Africa
• Dr. Fahmida KHATUN, Executive Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh
• Ms. Lorena Palomo PARADA, Independent Consultant, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
• Dr. Jan Yves REMY, Director, Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services, Barbados

Moderator: Mr. Christophe BELLMANN, Head of Policy Analysis and Strategy r, Forum on Trade, Environment and the SDGs (TESS)