Big climate change job awaits WTO, if it can step up
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
January 27, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023
Big climate change job awaits WTO, if it can step up

Analysis

Reuters
23 November, 2021, 08:05 pm
Last modified: 23 November, 2021, 08:10 pm

Related News

  • Big tech helps big oil spread subtle climate denialism
  • Early climate adaptation investment could save Bangladesh billions by 2030: Study
  • Breakthrough in nuclear fusion boosts clean power hope
  • DAVOS 2023: WTO sticks with 1% projection for growth in global trade
  • US climate envoy Kerry outlines carbon offset initiative for developing nations

Big climate change job awaits WTO, if it can step up

The question for trade chiefs from 164 countries gathering in Geneva next week for the WTO's first ministerial conference in four years is: are they ready to give it that job?

Reuters
23 November, 2021, 08:05 pm
Last modified: 23 November, 2021, 08:10 pm
Big climate change job awaits WTO, if it can step up

From laying down the law on fossil fuel subsidies to promoting low-carbon supply chains, there is no shortage of ways in which the World Trade Organization could be at the forefront of the global fight against climate change.

The question for trade chiefs from 164 countries gathering in Geneva next week for the WTO's first ministerial conference in four years is: are they ready to give it that job?

Few doubt that trade matters to climate change. While national emissions-cutting pledges grab headlines, the reality is that the world's top economies are yoked together by a mesh of intense rivalries and interdependencies.

That means that, unless someone is setting clear and fair rules, they will fear that any unilateral move to decarbonise could be exploited by competitors for trade advantage.

"Trade was a huge subtext of a lot of what was going on at COP26," Carolyn Fischer, Professor of Environmental Economics of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, said of U.N. talks in Glasgow this month that yielded some agreement but left climate campaigners disappointed by the extent of progress.

Many of those campaigners will be sceptical that the WTO, which has long been accused by critics of globalisation of putting free trade ahead of social concerns, should ever be trusted to have a role on climate change.

But others argue that the 27-year-old body, which is grappling with existential questions about its relevance amid mounting trade protectionism, has much to offer.

"Trade is part of the solution," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told COP26, saying the WTO can help big emitters like the United States, China and India to jointly work through the trade impacts of their climate plans.

Some are already using trade to support their climate goals.

The European Commission last week proposed a law to stop imports of goods ranging from soy to palm oil and furniture if their production destroys forests vital to absorbing carbon dioxide.

The EU also plans to tax the carbon contained in imports, a world-first designed to protect European firms from competitors in territories with looser emissions restrictions.

A group of countries led by Costa Rica and New Zealand wants pacts to "discipline" the hundreds of billions of dollars of national subsidies thrown into fossil fuels, citing as an example WTO rules on farm or industrial subsidies.

Greenwashing 

All these moves raise questions to which the WTO has still not found the answers.

The EU says its border levy, due to be phased in from 2026, will be fully compatible with existing WTO rules. But trading partners including China and Russia have been hostile.

Complex global supply chains could also make it hard to identify the extent of deforestation caused by a product and so lead to disputes which the WTO - whose appeals body has ground to a halt - would struggle to settle.

And while tackling fossil fuel subsidies should be a clear-cut WTO task, its track record in the area has been mixed.

"Folks who follow the WTO know that we've had a 20-year negotiation on trying to discipline harmful fisheries subsidies," University of Michigan professor Jennifer Haverkamp, a former climate negotiator, said of a trade stand-off that is jeopardising the world's fish stocks.

One role for the WTO could be to combat "greenwashing" by defining commonly agreed standards against which environmental claims could be tested - for example by having oversight over eco-labelling schemes.

Another would be creating tools for assessing the carbon footprint of the finished products that emerge from cross-border supply chains and in helping to establish an accurate global price for carbon - a role Okonjo-Iweala has explicitly backed.

Further down the line, severe climate change could mean dealing with massive disruptions to the global economy.

"We will need to move things from places where there is a bumper crop to places that are in drought," said Dmitry Grozoubinski of the Geneva Trade Platform non-profit.

"We will have to get good at moving new technologies, new ideas, goods and people across borders."

Consensus on the WTO's role in any of the above may depend on whether trade ministers meeting next week see eye-to-eye on how they want to overhaul the body in the first place.

It would get a further boost if those ministers are able to secure a deal on reducing fisheries subsidies, because - as former WTO director-general Pascal Lamy has noted - it would show a political will to address environmental concerns.

Some suggest that defining a clear role on climate change is a credibility issue for the WTO.

"They've been talking about green goods and services for a long time," said Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam's Fischer. "Making progress there would help demonstrate the relevance of the WTO and trade towards sustainability."

Top News / World+Biz / Global Economy

WTO / climate change

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Manufacturers feel the pinch as consumers tighten belt
    Manufacturers feel the pinch as consumers tighten belt
  • Sugar turning bitter!
    Sugar turning bitter!
  • Island hopping in Bangladesh?
    Island hopping in Bangladesh?

MOST VIEWED

  • Illustration: Jinhwa Jang for Bloomberg Businessweek
    Is a US recession near? Making the call is trickier than ever
  •  Gautam Adani, center.Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
    The Adani short sale puts investor trust in India in doubt
  • Dominion Energy is seeking to extend the operating license of its North Anna Nuclear Generating Station located in Louisa County, Va., to 80 years. Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images North America
    Nuclear power plants are pushed to the limit as demand surges
  • Photo: Bloomberg
    The worst fears for global growth may be subsiding
  • An island unto themselves.Photographer: Sam Yeh/AFP
    US could defend Taiwan from China - at great cost
  • Photo: BSS/AFP
    Want to keep IMF away? Stay healthy

Related News

  • Big tech helps big oil spread subtle climate denialism
  • Early climate adaptation investment could save Bangladesh billions by 2030: Study
  • Breakthrough in nuclear fusion boosts clean power hope
  • DAVOS 2023: WTO sticks with 1% projection for growth in global trade
  • US climate envoy Kerry outlines carbon offset initiative for developing nations

Features

Island hopping in Bangladesh?

Island hopping in Bangladesh?

1h | Panorama
According to the CAB president Ghulam Rahman, one of the most common complaints of consumers is being deceived by sellers when it comes to the weight of goods. Photo: TBS

Has the Directorate improved consumer rights in Bangladesh?

2d | Panorama
A 2022 survey of 1,000 companies by professional services consultancy PwC found that between a sixth and a quarter had used AI in recruitment or employee retention in the past 12 months. Illustration: Bloomberg

AI is coming to your workplace. Is the world ready?

2d | Panorama
Edison Desdemona, the newly launched stellar project of Edison Real Estate, located at Bashundhara Residential Area. Photo: Courtesy

EDISON DESDEMONA: A creation like no other

2d | Habitat

More Videos from TBS

Kajol’s road paintings bring change in Gafargaon

Kajol’s road paintings bring change in Gafargaon

13h | TBS Stories
Carew & Company witnessed a remarkable growth

Carew & Company witnessed a remarkable growth

14h | TBS Stories
PCB recalls cricketers from BPL ahead of PSL

PCB recalls cricketers from BPL ahead of PSL

16h | TBS SPORTS
Why Misha Sawdagar became villain instead of a Hero?

Why Misha Sawdagar became villain instead of a Hero?

15h | TBS Entertainment

Most Read

1
Picture: Collected
Bangladesh

US Embassy condemns recent incidents of visa fraud

2
Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 
Bangladesh

Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 

3
Illustration: TBS
Banking

16 banks at risk of capital shortfall if top 3 borrowers default

4
Photo: Collected
Splash

Hansal Mehta responds as Twitter user calls him 'shameless' for making Faraaz

5
A frozen Beyond Burger plant-based patty. Photographer: AKIRA for Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Special

Fake meat was supposed to save the world. It became just another fad

6
Representational Image
Banking

Cash-strapped Islami, Al-Arafah and National turn to Sonali Bank for costly fund

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]