Presentation by Celine Charveriat, Executive Director of IEEP, and Carolyn Deere Birkbeck, Senior Researcher at the Graduate Institute's Global Governance Centre, during the World Environment Day webinar hosted by the World Trade Organization on 4 June 2020.

1. SUSTAINABLE TRADE AFTER COVID 19:
The case for a global, green and just recovery
Céline Charveriat & Carolyn Deere Birkbeck
WTO World Environment Day webinar, June 4th, 2020

2. State-of-Play post-COVID:
the role of trade in a global,
green, and just recovery
• Flattening the emissions curve:
Insufficient progress on internalising
environmental costs and benefits of
trade
• Effects of the crisis on the
sustainability of trade likely be
mixed
• A polarised post-COVID debate on
trade

3. The imperative of risk-proofing prosperity:
bouncing forward, not bouncing back
• Fundamentals of sustainable
growth and prosperity
• The new normal: Achieving
prosperity in a state of “permanent
crisis”
• Rethinking cost benefit analysis
considering systemic risks caused
by covariant shocks
• For countries highly dependent on
trade:
• Adaptation of trade infrastructure
and sectors depending on trade to
multiple shocks but also new
requirements post COVID (e.g. SPS)
• Challenges posed by risk mitigation
within supply chains + changing
consumer preferences

4. 5 key areas for action
• Promoting green and just recovery
pathways
• Making green economy the new
normal
• Phase-out of the “brown” economy
• Equitable sharing of benefits, burden
and risks of greening trade
• Enable/support developing countries
in line with SDGs

5. What should
policymakers
do?

6. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
Green Trade for Green Recovery initiative at the G20
• rapid recovery of sustainable sectors (such as sustainable tourism).
• address green capacity constraints through access to trade finance.
• promote low-carbon sectors and products.
• boost green aid for trade and promote green technology transfer for low-
income countries.
Coordinate trade policy response to COVID-related food security challenges in line
with Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD) principles

7. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
Trade agreements
Take action on new approaches and models for trade and investment cooperation that respond
to urgent Covid-19 related challenges AND
• promote the transition toward a more circular and net-zero global economy
• ensure countries have space to implement the Paris Agreement
• support adaptation to climate change and climate resilience
• advance achievement of the SDGs
Examples:
• Negotiations for a plurilateral Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS)
• Cooperative initiatives such as the Friends of Advancing Sustainable Trade (FAST)

8. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
WTO
High-level political leadership
on trade and environmental
sustainability
Ministerial Statement on
Environment Sustainability
& Trade at the 2021 WTO
Ministerial Conference to
catalyse more focused
dialogue and action
Immediate action:
WTO agreement on
fish subsidies reform
Create of an independent,
interdisciplinary panel to assess/
advise on sustainability + SDG
impacts/opportunities in
multilateral trade negotiations and
trade recovery initiatives
Integrate environmental
sustainability & resilience
across WTO negotiations
& WTO reform
discussions
Reinvigorate WTO
Committee on
Trade and
Environment (CTE)
Intensify engagement &
multi-stakeholder
partnerships at national +
international level,
including through UNEP-
WTO Platform