Trade and environmental sustainability

In November 2020, 50 WTO members announced their intention to organize structured discussions for interested WTO members to advance work on trade and environmental sustainability. The discussions would include promoting transparency and information sharing, identifying areas for future work within the WTO, supporting technical assistance and capacity building needs, particularly for least-developed countries, and working on “deliverables” of environmental sustainability in the various areas of the WTO. The idea was to complement the existing work of the Committee on Trade and Environment and other relevant WTO committees and bodies.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala welcomed the launch of the discussions, telling participants the initiative is in line with the WTO's founding principle of promoting sustainable development.

“I have said that to remain relevant, the WTO needs to deliver results,” she declared. “And looking to the future, we have to see how we can harness the power of trade to help us have a healthy environment.”

Since then, proponents of the initiative, known as the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD), have met five times, with 57 members now participating in the discussions.

Ministerial Statement

The group has already agreed on a Ministerial Statement and aims to attract further co-sponsors by MC12. The Ministerial Statement, among other things, sets out future work for the initiative in areas such as trade and climate change, trade in environmental goods and services, circular economy and sustainable supply chains. In addition, it fixes a road map for advancing discussions in 2022.

Coordination of the discussions

The discussions are being coordinated by Canada and Costa Rica. The initiative is open to all WTO members. Representatives from international organizations and civil society are also taking part in the discussions.