The United Nations Climate Conference COP28 dedicates, for the first time ever, a day to trade, with the aim of discussing its contribution to global carbon emissions, and how to enhance the role of trade in the transition to clean energy.
The Trade Day will be held on December 4th during the COP28 conference hosted by the UAE from November 30th to December 12th in Expo City Dubai.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is cooperating with the UAE, the World Trade Organization, and other global organizations such as the World Economic Forum and the International Chamber of Commerce to shape today’s discussions.
What is the role of trade in the transition to clean energy?
According to UNCTAD, trade plays a pivotal role in influencing climate change, because the global production and distribution of goods and services contributes to nearly a quarter of total global carbon emissions.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which consists of the world’s leading climate scientists, has warned that keeping Earth’s temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius will require achieving net-zero carbon emissions worldwide by 2050.
The 2022 World Trade Organization report shows that trade and value chains were key factors in the decline in the cost of solar and wind power generation, making renewable energy now cheaper than fossil alternatives in some places, and leading to increased consumption.
Trade can help accelerate the low-carbon transition by eliminating tariffs and reducing non-tariff measures on a subset of energy-related environmental goods, according to the report.
The World Trade Organization expects this to boost exports of green goods by five percent by 2030, while the resulting increases in energy efficiency and uptake of renewable energy would reduce global emissions by 0.6 percentage points.
Trade in environmentally friendly goods and services
Trade in environmentally friendly goods and services increased by about 4 percent in the second half of 2022 to reach a record level of $1.9 trillion, according to UNCTAD data.
Goods such as electric cars and non-plastic packaging also saw an increase of 20 percent, with trade for wind turbines rising by about ten percent.
Trade can provide more countries with access to less polluting goods and services, something that COP28 aims to put on the table for discussion this year.
However, trade policies for the green transition may have negative impacts on developing countries that have less capacity to respond to changes. Therefore, COP28 aims to discuss how to strengthen the role of trade in achieving climate goals, without harming developing countries.
2023-11-08 07:15:29
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