Trade for Sustainable Development (T4SD)
Good Trade Summit 2023
![](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/media/image/media_image/2023/08/21/gts_23_banner_17_aug.jpg?itok=kzwtJtMB)
New York - United States of America
Global Cooperation: Working Together to Build Sustainable & Inclusive Supply Chains
ITC is organizing the Good Trade Summit 2023, jointly with the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU), on 20 September 2023, in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The event will explore the theme of Global Cooperation: Working Together to Build Sustainable & Inclusive Supply Chains.
2023 marks the midpoint for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda. At this crucial juncture, the Summit will engage key stakeholders, from governments, multilateral organizations, and the private sector, including small businesses, brands and retailers. The event will focus on amplifying the voice of small businesses as active contributors to the SDGs in setting the policy agenda.
Good Trade Summit / T4SD Forum
The Trade for Sustainable Development Forum (T4SD Forum) is ITC’s leading global event on sustainable supply chains, bringing together key stakeholders including policymakers, business support organizations, sustainability standard groups, and the private sector including small businesses.
Date: 12 September 2024
Location: Bern, Switzerland
Partners: Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO)
The 2024 edition of the International Trade Centre’s (ITC) flagship event, the Trade for Sustainable Development (T4SD) Forum, will be co-organized with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) on 12 September 2024 at the Eventforum Bern and streamed online.
This hybrid event will contextualize the evolving needs of small businesses in contributing to the sustainable development amidst the current geopolitical and regulatory challenges. The wide range of stakeholders present will discuss various solutions including capacity building, private sector engagement and global public goods to foster concerted action towards a sustainable future.
At the Good Trade Summit, ITC will launch a Call to Action: ‘Uniting Sustainable Actions’. This Call to Action stands as a distinctive and comprehensive initiative, uniting small businesses and diverse actors under a shared commitment to drive sustainable trade practices. Its holistic approach, focus on empowerment, collaboration, and digital transparency which sets it apart, making it a catalyst for tangible, positive change across global value chains.
ITC is organizing the Good Trade Summit 2023, jointly with BCIU, on 20 September 2023, in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The event will explore the theme of Global Cooperation: Working Together to Build Sustainable & Inclusive Supply Chains.
2023 marks the midpoint for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda. At this crucial juncture, the Summit will engage key stakeholders, from governments, multilateral organizations, and the private sector, including small businesses, brands and retailers. The event will focus on amplifying the voice of small businesses as active contributors to the SDGs in setting the policy agenda.
From factory collapses to dam failures and mine disasters – the past two decades have seen a string of tragedies exposing the life-threatening risks in supply chains. Such incidents not only revealed the dire conditions faced by upstream workers, but also shined a light on the need for better risk monitoring in value chains.
Along with social concerns, environmental challenges have further strained supply chains, with climate change amplifying cross-cutting issues.
Policymakers around the globe responded with a patchwork of new laws, often at national levels, to prevent such incidents from re-occuring. However, there was a pressing need to develop international frameworks and enforcement mechanisms to streamline the national policies that were fragmented at best.
In light of these challenges, a growing movement emerged to safeguard human rights and protect the environment in the global economy. On a supranational level, in February 2022, the EU adopted its proposal on corporate sustainability due diligence, which aims to foster sustainable and responsible corporate behaviour throughout global value chains.
The 2022 edition of the T4SD Forum delved into corporate sustainability governance and took a critical look at how the evolving regulatory landscape affects small-business owners, especially the upstream players in developing countries.
Forty years ago, consumers thought very little about their products. Coffee was “just coffee”, and shoppers didn’t care much about where it came from, what variety it was, and even less about how it was produced.
Over time, however, NGO-led initiatives lifted the curtain on production conditions, exposing the steep environmental and social costs of unsustainable sourcing. New sustainability concerns led to the emergence of Voluntary Sustainability Standards to monitor production practices and communicate sustainability efforts.
In 2020, the eruption of COVID on the world stage profoundly altered the sustainability landscape. Suddenly, audits for voluntary standards had to be conducted remotely, companies had to reconfigure their supply chains, and small businesses had to adjust and innovate at lightning speed – all against the backdrop of an impending climate crisis.
In light of these burning new challenges, has sustainability taken a back seat? Has the pandemic slowed the rise of these standards? How can small businesses, governments, and the financial sector make sense of the increasingly complex sustainability landscape? And what is the role of sustainability standards in post-COVID recovery?
To address these questions, ITC brought together its network of partners and experts, and leverages 10 years of insight as the only global, neutral institution to map these standards.
ITC hosted a novel, virtual summit in a year that saw most major events cancelled or postponed.
The summit responded to the interconnected trade and development challenges brought to the forefront by the COVID-19 crisis and merged SheTrades Global, the premier global event linking women entrepreneurs with buyers and partners, with the Trade for Sustainable Development (T4SD) Forum, one of the leading global events on sustainable value chains.
The crisis exposed the frailty of our value chains and has disproportionally
affected women. The discussions considered:
How can we use this moment to hit the reset button and build more resilient, inclusive and sustainable value chains? How can we ensure that ‘good trade’ for positive and inclusive economic, environmental and social impact is the way forward in a post-COVID world?
As the world spins faster and faster towards a climate emergency, maintaining the status quo is no longer an option. And in a shifting global context where multilateralism is under threat, the need for swift, collaborative action has never been greater.
The sixth edition of the Trade for Sustainable Development Forum focused on sustainability mainstreaming – the process of embedding sustainability into the DNA of every organization and every business. The three-day event looked at sustainability mainstreaming from every angle: from its policy implications to its implementation on the ground, from its environmental dimension to its social dimension, from SMEs to large corporations.
Photos from Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3
The fifth T4SD Forum discussed Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production and its relationship with sustainable trade in global value chains.
SDG 12 aims at “doing more and better with less”, by promoting a more resource efficient economy and encouraging industries, companies and consumers to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption. For global value chains, shifting towards greener production practices demands collaboration among all actors from producers to final consumers.
The 2018 T4SD Forum aimed to:
- Provide a unique platform to discuss sustainable trade practices and identify innovative best practices - vis-à-vis the implementation of SDG 12.
- Identify challenges and opportunities for SMEs arising from a shift to a greener economy for the implementation of SDG 12.
- Leverage ITC’s contribution to the Global Goals through support to SME international competitiveness for inclusive and sustainable growth through value addition, trade, investment and global partnerships.
Videos on sustainable farming and commercial diplomacy
Photos from the panel sessions, the Project Lab and Partner's Day, and the High-level sessions
The event explored key themes around partnerships:
- Why are some models more successful in achieving sustainability objectives?
- What are common elements of success when standards organizations, policy makers and private companies work well together?
- What can we expect from successful collaboration?
- What issues should we consider when engaging in new partnerships?
Photos from the opening day, Partner's Day and Open House, the high-level panel at the WTO Public Forum, and the Photo Booth.
Connecting communities in policy and business, trade and sustainability, this Forum challenged thought leaders to bridge the gap between debates on sustainability standards, supply chains, and international trade to work towards achieving the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development (SDGs).
The focus was on the importance of data-driven decision making in sustainable value chains. The sessions brought out candid exchanges of views, with the latest industry and policy insights and experience.
The Forum highlighted why sustainability information and data matter and how to make smarter decisions as a business leader, a policymaker, or a consumer.
Photos from sessions on Connecting the unconnected, How the future will look, the Keynote on making the most of sustainable value chain data, Leveraging the digital revolution, the opening addess, a signing ceremony, a side event on sustainable consumption and production, and the Opening session at the WTO.
Videos from the Opening session, the first session and the second session.
The second T4SD Forum featured leaders in international trade who took an innovative approach to supply chain management, to ensure that small-scale producers have a voice in the global market.
The Forum featured representatives from multinational corporations, governments, international organizations academia, and non-government organizations.
Photos from sessions on:
Setting the foundation for the forum
Innovative solutions for sustainable supply chains
How to make continual improvements
Video from the sessions on innovation solutions for sustainable supply chains, new initiatives and thinking about sustainability.
At the inaugural forum, ITC launched a charter to bring transparency and harmonization of standards among major buyers, certification bodies and policymakers.
Standards protect workers, the environment and consumers, while offering producers a door to access new markets. Public procurement increasingly reflects the influence of these private initiatives, blurring the line between public and private standards.
While standards address consumer concerns about environmental, labour and social issues, it is challenging for producers to comply with so many different, overlapping standards. Dialogue among policymakers, suppliers and buyers during this event aimed to contribute to transparent, harmonized standards that contribute to sustainable development goals.
Photos from sessions on
The supplier perspective - implementing sustainability standards
The buyer perspective - sustainable sourcing and SME integration into supply chains
Towards core principles for sustainable trade
![](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/media/image/media_image/2024/07/15/shutterstock_519614512.jpg?itok=houd4aMx)
Business, trade and market intelligence: Trade for Sustainable Development (T4SD) database
Your roadmap to sustainable production, consumption and trade
The Trade for Sustainable Development (T4SD) Programme at the International Trade Centre is a partnership-based programme which empowers and equips micro, small and medium- sized enterprises (MSMEs) to improve their sustainability performance for better efficiency and international competitiveness.
The Programme does this through providing a global sustainability platform (scale), impactful partnerships (reach) and direct trade-related assistance to MSMEs (transformation) along two main intervention pillars: sustainability standards and social responsibility.
With our help, farmers are now able to certify their products as organic, and companies are learning how to become sustainable and can apply for green finance. Our resources also provide tools for businesses to assess their compliance against sustainability standards and potentially access preferential bank loans based on their sustainability score.
T4SD video
Sustainable Development Goals
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span lang="EN-GB">T4SD has become recognized as the go-to source of information on voluntary sustainability standards (VSS), with unique, detailed and user-friendly action oriented tools. VSS will continue to be the primary vehicle underpinning the shift towards sustainable value chains for private sector players, and the new sustainability regulation and legislative actions planned by governments will inevitably rely on these existing VSS/private initiatives. In</span> 2021 T4SD launched its 2022-2025 strategy which is aligned with ITC's new corporate strategy and as such contributes to ITC's objectives on trade and environmental sustainability. The T4SD strategy and programme approach is based on 'projects, platforms and partnerships' and aims to enable T4SD to become the global reference for trade and improved sustainability performance of SMEs. To achieve this, the T4SD programme will:</span></p><ul><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Contribute to more supportive business ecosystem by providing cutting-edge knowledge on trade-related value chain sustainability requirements</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Empower MSMEs to meet sustainability requirements</span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Drive VSS convergence and harmonization and optimize solutions with market partners; and </span></li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Influence international trade and sustainability frameworks</span></li></ul><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Underpinning these efforts is the 'core' of the T4SD programme, the T4SD global VSS database (Standards Map) as well as the online market linkages platform (Sustainability Map) that power the above four intervention areas. This project supports the maintenance, updating and further development of these Global Public Goods fulfilling ITC's commitment to provide transparency on VSS, as well as the related awareness-raising and capacity-building activities.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(97, 189, 109);">In 2023, T4SD activities under the project will be condensed, with a more prominent focus on the Global Public Goods, to reflect available resources. First, T4SD will continue implementing activities to ensure the continuity and quality of relevant standards data, the database, and its public interface. In addition, the project will increase awareness of VSS and drive convergence in VSS through publications, online tools, and enabling market partners and BSOs to support MSMEs. </span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176);">In 2024, T4SD will focus on implementing the recommendations that spring from the recently-completed T4SD database evaluation. At the same time, T4SD will continue to ensure the continuity and quality of relevant standards data, the database, and its public interface. In addition, the project will increase awareness of VSS and drive convergence in VSS through publications, online tools, and enabling market partners and BSOs to support MSMEs. </span><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176);">T4SD will also build on the Standards Map and its industry networks to develop the "Sustainability Compact" in light of the changing sustainability landscape with the growing complexity of mandatory/regulatory sustainability measures. </span></p><p>The project's outcome is ultimately to support MSMEs to become more internationally competitive through adoption of sustainable practices and accessing new business opportunities. This will be achieved through four outputs, which are aligned with all four intermediate outcomes of the ITC's 2022-2025 strategic framework.</p>
T4SD: Advisory Services
Sustainable Development Goals
<p>T4SD has become a go-to source of information on voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) that is widely recognized and cannot be found elsewhere with the same level of detail and user-friendly action oriented tools. VSS will continue to be the primary vehicle underpinning the shift towards sustainable value chains for private sector players, and the new sustainability regulation and legislative actions planned by governments will inevitably include these existing VSS/private initiatives. In line with the 2021-2025 T4SD strategy, the programme is therefore moving towards enhancing its advisory services, in addition to the provision of impartial, credible and freely accessible global public goods and country-specific field interventions.</p><p>Based on the increasing demand for such projects, coming from both the private and public sector, T4SD plans on scaling up these activities substantially in 2021-2025, with special emphasis on support to the development of sustainable value chains, and newly to the advice for policy-makers. In doing so, T4SD will use its deep understanding of requirements, processes, and substantive areas covered by sustainability standards, to create efficiencies in application of sustainability frameworks in GVCs. </p><p>Between November 2021 and December 2025, and fully in line with the new medium-term T4SD strategy, the project will aim to deliver the following types of activities:</p><p>a) driving and enabling benchmarking, convergence and/or harmonization on VSS and related sustainability frameworks;</p><p>b) supporting research on sustainable sourcing and procurement efforts as well as alignment of lead firms in various sectors;</p><p>c) providing VSS insights and delivering customized sustainability assessment tools, training and capacity building to private and public organizations;</p><p>d) facilitating international efforts on convergence between voluntary and mandatory standards and provide input to policy-makers on incorporating VSS into related efforts;</p><p>e) supporting individual (human rights & environmental) due diligence efforts via benchmarking and advice on relevant sustainability-related regulations. </p><p>The efforts that will be supported via this project are currently fragmented and not coordinated at a global level. As such, it is expected that smaller-scale requests of varying sizes will be part of this project, subject to demand and specific agreements with the individual donors. T4SD, with its global repository of knowledge on sustainability standards is poised to play a central role in unifying these efforts and build on its cooperation with other ITC’s technical programmes, in particular with ITC Alliances for Action (A4A) and its sector perspective also focusing on mandatory due diligence and related sustainability frameworks.</p>