Release of Ten ‘Quick Wins’ for Trade and the Environment

The linkages between trade and environment are both complex and diverse. While trade has enabled the rapid development of technological advances to help governments achieve their environmental goals, the deployment of those innovations is not always financially accessible or produced at the scale needed to address urgent challenges. As a result, nations face persistent obstacles to tackling environmental degradation in all of its forms. The range of activity on trade and environmental issues is vast and continually growing. At the national, regional, and multilateral level governments are adopting various instruments that use trade as a tool for climate adaptation and sustainable development, as well as environmental cooperation.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has also made strides to advance the trade and environment agenda, including through the successful negotiation of new rules on harmful fisheries subsidies; the first WTO deal that is explicitly linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. But there is still much more that could be done, and trade could play an even greater role in the global fight against environmental degradation and climate change if governments are willing to seize the opportunity.

This TradeExperettes report, “Ten ‘Quick Wins’ for Trade and the Environment,” brings together a diverse set of experts from academia, think tanks, international organizations, and the private sector to offer practical suggestions that can be implemented to advance the trade and environment agendaIt includes actions that countries can take on their own, as well as areas that could benefit from international cooperation.

We invite you to read the report and join the conversation.