Green Economy and Trade E-learning course
The interactive and practice-oriented course seeks to provide interested participants from Government, business, civil society and academia with an introduction to various approaches to promote and harness opportunities related to sustainable trade. The course will look at the nexus between trade and environment in the following modules: (i) Key concepts, trends and developments; (ii) Opportunities and enabling conditions for greening trade; (iii) Assessing and seizing sustainable trade opportunities in (a) the agricultural sector and (b) renewable energy sector (elective modules); and (iv) International trade governance and law. This E-learning course is developed and delivered in partnership with UNITAR.
Country Projects:
Training for PAGE Guyana
In late 2019, UNEP Environment & Trade Hub and UNITAR, under the umbrella of PAGE and with support from the University of Guyana, co-organized a training workshop for ministry officials of the Government of Guyana focusing on green industrial policies and trade. The workshop was designed with the objective of building technical knowledge and skills related to the design, implementation and evaluation of public policy at the trade and industrial policy nexus, thus supporting Guyanese officials in the achievement of the national sustainability goals in the a forementioned sectors. Various sessions were delivered and moderated by renowned economic expert Patrick Low, UNEP Consultant and legal expert Colette Van der Ven, UNITAR consultant Giuliano Montanari, and local experts Stephan Moonsammy and Leyland Lucas. The workshop saw over 10 participants who represented the University of Guyana as well as various ministries and departments of the Government of Guyana such as the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute, Ministry of Agriculture among others.
Trade and Green Economy in Mongolia
As part of the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) country work in Mongolia, UNEP's Environment &Trade Hub, in partnership with the Government of Mongolia and the International Trade Center, conducted a project entitled "Harnessing Trade Opportunities in Transition to a Green Economy in Mongolia." The project aims to support Mongolia's efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda and National Development Policies by enhancing its capacity to identify and benefit from green trade opportunities. Project activities include:
- A technical study on trade and green economy in Mongolia, and a Policy Brief;
- A capacity building workshop for policymakers and practitioners;
- A stakeholders' roundtable meeting to share good practices and experience;
- Consultations with trade and environmental negotiators.
Enhancing capacities for trade in global sustainable textiles value chains in Jiangsu, China
As part of the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) country work in China, the Environment and Trade Hub, in partnership with the Research Institute of Global Value Chains and the International Trade Center, initiated a project to improve the capacity of textile companies in Jiangsu Province to understand better sustainable trade and value chain development opportunities in the textile sector. It aims to assist Jiangsu's efforts in the transition towards an Inclusive Green Economy and achieve its industrial upgrading and green development goals as outlined in the provincial 13th Five Year Plan. The project activities are:
- A baseline assessment of current textile trade and value chain development in Jiangsu. A targeted training workshop on Sustainable Trade and Global Value Chains for Textile Products to share knowledge and good practices. The report can be found here.
- An Action Plan for improving the sustainability of the textile trade in Jiangsu will outline the steps recommended to local policy makers, textile companies, and businesses.
Green Economy and Trade Opportunities Project (GE-TOP)
The Green Economy and Trade Opportunities Project has been divided into two phases. The first phase is the development of the report Green Economy and Trade – Trends, Challenges and Opportunities, which focuses on a global assessment of interlinkages between international trade and the green economy. In this study, GE-TOP developed a global framework that demonstrated the mutually beneficial relationship between trade and the green economy. The second phase consisted of five national-level projects that identified and assessed concrete trade opportunities associated with the transition to a green economy at the national and sectoral levels.
Through these country projects, GE-TOP assisted sustainable development in various sector and country contexts, including an assessment of export opportunities resulting from a national standard for the Chilean agriculture sector; a scoping study and a strategy proposal on solar energy export potential in Ghana; a project study and a support document for the implementation of the National Biotrade Strategy in Peru; an assessment of export opportunities resulting from a shift to organic farming in the agricultural and agro-processing sector of South Africa; and a study and action plan on export opportunities for sustainably certified aquaculture in Vietnam. The findings of all the country projects were compiled in the Green Economy and Trade Opportunities: Country Projects Synthesis Report.
Green transport infrastructure for sustainable trade, tourism and development in SIDS
For Small Island Developing States (SIDS), ports and coastal airports are lifelines for external trade, food and energy security, and tourism, often one of the main drivers of economic development and prosperity. However, climate change threatens the coastal transport infrastructure of SIDS with potentially significant socio-economic consequences. While trade is dependent on well-functioning transport infrastructure assets, it can also help create climate, economic and social resilience by promoting interconnectivity, diversified production, enhanced productivity and value addition to exports, and facilitating disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. To better enable SIDS to use trade as a vehicle for building economic and climate resilience, UNEP and UNCTAD, supported by the German Government, have implemented a joint project focused on supporting climate-resilient transport infrastructure for sustainable trade tourism and development in SIDS. Project activities included:
- Co-organization of a High-Level panel discussion on "Climate resilient transport infrastructure for sustainable trade, tourism and development in SIDS" at the 25th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 25), supported by Germany, OECS Commission, Commonwealth Secretariat, UNFCCC and ISO. The discussion was informed by a concept note of UNCTAD and UNEP.
- The expert panellists focused on the needs of SIDS to improve transport infrastructure for trade and tourism in the face of a changing climate and how trade can better promote climate resilience and propose actions and concrete policy recommendations. Read the Outcome Document for more information.
More on Outputs on Green Economy and Trade.
