Optimizing Trade Governance for Sustainable Development
The growing pressure to establish new rules and agreements that take into account sustainable development and trade is threatening multilateralism, particularly at the WTO (Hopewell 2016). How can the WTO overcome this paralysis There are some recent initiatives that offer hope.
50 WTO member countries announced in November 2020 that they would organize structured talks to promote trade and sustainability. The year that followed saw the following: Structured Discussions on Trade and Environment SustainabilityThe group, coordinated by Canada, Costa Rica, and other countries, met five times, with the participation of 71 members, representing 82% of global trade. The group issued a Dec 2021 statement. Ministerial StatementIt outlines future work for the initiative, including trade and climate, trade in environmentally goods and services, circular economy and sustainable supplies chains. It also contains a roadmap to help advance discussions (WTO, 2021a).
In the same way, WTO members established an identical organization in November 2020. Informal dialogue on plastics pollution and environmentally-sustainable plastics tradeTrade as a tool to reduce plastic pollution Another December 2021 Ministerial StatementIt outlines the path forward for global efforts to reduce plastic pollution and transition towards an environmentally sustainable trade in plastics (WTO, 2021a).
In a third Ministerial Statement45 WTO members confirmed their intention to eliminate inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, take into account the needs of developing countries and advance discussions at WTO (2021a).
Although this is encouraging news, the WTO still faces significant challenges. One of these challenges is the diversity of views on its pertinence and competing narratives about the value of globalization or free trade (Roberts & Lamp 2021). This array of competing narratives must be balanced with the idea that everyone is at risk from the current support for unsustainable growth. Incoherent trade policies could lead, on the one hand, to increased resource use and pollution, which could put vulnerable communities at disadvantage and, ultimately, accelerate an existential threat against humanity.
We can reach an Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. This agreement will benefit both the earth and the people. It offers a chance to build trust in multilateralism and for WTO members to be able to negotiate new rules for 21st-century.
Free trade advocates argue that value chains are more efficient in the global use of resources. They also note that it all depends upon domestic environmental policies. It is important to change the narrative about the trade-environment nexus. It is worth putting more emphasis on how to mitigate the harmful effects of trade and trade agreements on the environment. However, it is important that we recognize the needs of developing countries. (Deere Birkbeck, 2021).
The WTO could achieve the following in the future.
- The WTO should place sustainable development at the same level with its goals for trade liberalization.Instead of focusing on their impact on trade disruption, harmful subsidies must be weighed against their potential for harm to the environment and people.
- Increase science-policy interactionsWTO to increase policy analysis of the environmental effects of trade in partnership with UN system and other stakeholders. A more inclusive, systematic, and inclusive science and policy interface would be a benefit to the WTO. It could analyze cases in which trade supports the environment through green products or technology and how the removal perverse subsidies can help achieve sustainable development.
- Use current trade rules in order to advance the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The WTO should consider the impact of inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies on climate action, and strengthen countries disclosure rules.
- Accelerate agreement in relation to fisheries subsidies. WTO negotiations regarding fisheries subsidies are ongoing for over 20 years. Particularly noteworthy was the 2015 adoption of SDGs. Target 14.6The talks on fisheries subsidies have gained momentum, and many believe they will be concluded in 2022 (WTO 2021b). Restoring overexploited fish stock would increase the economic benefits by almost 30. From USD 3 billion up to USD 86 trillionThis level could be achieved by reducing the global fishing effort by 5% per year over a 10-year period.
Negative impacts of trade on our planet are not being addressed by trade rules. Despite the increasing risks of social- and environmental tipping points, several trade-induced crises create new sources of uncertainty and risk despite the substantial knowledge. Trade wars between China and the USA are vaccine inequitiesTwo examples of emblematic behavior were displayed during the COVID-19 crises.
We can only have change as our only certainty. Although structural transformations are not something that can be achieved overnight, a systemic approach towards the trade-environment interface will not only save money but also help ensure the survival of our planet.
