World Trade Report 2022
Climate change and international trade

Trade can play an essential role in helping countries reduce emissions by increasing the availability and affordability of environmental goods, services and technologies. International trade can also help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change and build future resilience.

Ensuring that trade and climate change policies are mutually supportive requires global coordination and transparency about government measures. The WTO already plays an important part in helping countries to tackle climate change by maintaining a predictable trading environment underpinned by WTO rules that enable international trade in the goods and services needed to cope with the consequences of climate change. However, the mutual supportiveness of trade and climate change policies could be strengthened by further international cooperation at the WTO.

In the face of the threat that climate change represents to people, ecosystems and the global economy, the World Trade Report 2022 explores the multifaceted relationship between international trade and climate change. While trade itself does generate emissions from production and transport, trade and trade policies can accelerate the dissemination of cutting-edge technologies and best practices and enhance incentives for further innovation aimed at tackling climate change.

Published in 2022.

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• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Foreword by the WTO Director-General
• Key messages
• Executive summary
• A. Introduction
• B. The role of trade in adapting to climate change
• C. The trade implications of a low-carbon economy
• D. Carbon pricing and international trade
• E. The decarbonization of international trade
• F. The contribution of trade in environmental goods and services
• G. Conclusion
• Bibliography

Opinion pieces

• Danae Kyriakopoulou, “Climate inaction: implications for international trade”
• Gauri Singh, “Green hydrogen requires an appetite for action”
• Daniel C. Esty, “Trade implications of GHG pricing”
• Sophie Punte, “Building momentum for zero-emissions freight movement”