A changing climate for Trade: policy priorities after COP-26
24th November 2021
Online
Frontier Economics and Trade Knowledge Exchange are delighted to invite you to a virtual panel discussion on the role of trade policy in addressing climate change. This event is timed to fall between the COP-26 summit on climate change in Glasgow and the 12th Ministerial Conference of the WTO to be held in Geneva.
We will draw on the wisdom of a distinguished panel of speakers to identify the policy challenges the trade community needs to tackle in light of COP-26.
Speakers include:
- Professor L. Alan Winters. Fellow and Founding Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory in the University of Sussex. (Moderator).
- Pamela Coke-Hamilton. Executive Director, International Trade Centre, Geneva.
- Aik Hoe Lim, Director, Trade and Environment Division, World Trade Organisation, Geneva.
- Emily Lydgate, Reader in Environmental Law, University of Sussex.
- Matthew Bell, Director in the Public Policy practice, Frontier Economics, former CEO of the UK Committee on Climate Change.
Gus O’Donnell, Chairman, Frontier Economics, will introduce the event.
Event summary:
There is widespread recognition that COP-26 needs raise the bar in terms of action on climate change. The interaction between trade and climate policies is critical in this respect. Much of the discussion on trade and climate has been couched in terms of concerns regarding competitiveness and carbon leakage. While important, these discussions tend to overshadow the role and wide ranging contribution trade can make to advancing the climate agenda.
Trade has a critical role to play in stimulating emissions reductions by facilitating access to technology and innovation embodied in goods and services. For the same reasons, it also has a key contribution to make to the often neglected matter of adapting to climate change. Addressing these aspects of the trade-climate interaction will require focused policy action through multilateral and regional initiatives. It will also require a special focus on the priorities of developing countries.
We look forward to discussing these themes at the event.
This event is hosted by Frontier Economics, on behalf of the Trade Knowledge Exchange, a collaborative initiative between Frontier Economics and Sussex University. We will be running the event on the Microsoft teams platform.