The report Green Economy and Trade – Trends, Challenges and Opportunities, the main outcome of Phase I of GE-TOP, assessed sustainable trade opportunities in six key sectors: agriculture, fisheries, forests, manufacturing, renewable energy and tourism. The report aimed to: 1) identify a range of international trade opportunities in various key economic sectors associated with the transition to a green economy; 2) identify policies and measures that may act as facilitators to seizing trade opportunities arising from the transition to a green economy, and overcome related barriers; and 3) assist governments, the private sector and other stakeholders to build capacity to take advantage of sustainable trade opportunities at the national, regional or international level.
The report showed that the expansion of trade in environmental goods and services, the implementation of sustainability standards, and the greening of global value chains can increase the share of sustainable trade, and have the potential to significantly influence world trade patterns. The report stressed that making trade more socially and environmentally sustainable will simultaneously lead to economic gains.
Even when there is a strong economic, environmental and social case for investing in greening trade, a number of important obstacles remain. These relate mostly to limitations in financial and human resources, weak regulatory frameworks, lack of enforcement mechanisms, and poor economic infrastructure.
The report identified several areas where public and private actions can support developing countries’ efforts to access greener international markets. These include: 1) public investments in key economic infrastructure, technical assistance, targeted education and training programmes, and access to sustainable resources, such as electricity from renewable energy sources; 2) market-based instruments, such as the elimination of subsidies that encourage unsustainable production, consumption and trade, and pricing policies that take account of the true environmental and social costs of production and consumption; 3) regulatory frameworks that support green industries and incorporate sustainable development considerations in national development plans and export promotion strategies; 4) resource and energy-efficient production methods, so as to ensure long-term competitiveness in international markets; and 5) regional and multilateral fora that can help to liberalize trade in environmental goods and services, remove environmentally harmful subsidies, and provide opportunities for collective action to address global environmental and social challenges.
The report was launched on 8 May 2013 at a high-level event that counted with the participation of Achim Steiner, UN Environment Programme Executive Director; Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO); and different national ministries.
