Sustainability

<p><strong>The&nbsp;International&nbsp;Trade&nbsp;Centre&nbsp;(ITC) is&nbsp;hosting&nbsp;a webinar&nbsp;on&nbsp;‘Transitioning&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;Circular Economy: The role of Trade and Investment Policies’ on Wednesday, 13 July&nbsp;from&nbsp;10&nbsp;–&nbsp;11.30am CET.</strong></p><p><strong>Register on&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://intracen.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Qe7D29BLQ9eNVaYRle7Vow">ht… receive the link to participate in the webinar.</strong></p><p>The gradual shift towards a green economy has important implications for industrial policy in developing countries.&nbsp;<strong>Integrating&nbsp;climate change considerations will be a&nbsp;prerequisite&nbsp;for&nbsp;countries&nbsp;to strengthen competitiveness in decades to come, and leverage opportunities that arise in emerging green industries.&nbsp;</strong>Governments are increasingly reviewing avenues through which to integrate green considerations into the industrial policy framework – including through greening existing industries, and accelerating growth and development in green products, services, and technologies.</p><p>Circular&nbsp;economy&nbsp;principles&nbsp;are&nbsp;integral to&nbsp;policy measures relating&nbsp;to&nbsp;greening.&nbsp;<strong>The&nbsp;scope of&nbsp;the&nbsp;circular economy has evolved considerably over time&nbsp;</strong>from its initial focus on minimizing waste generation to a wider approach on making resource use more sustainable through enhanced resource efficiency, and increased demand for related products and services such as recycling, refurbishing, and remanufacturing. <strong>With increasing dependency on global value chains, the gradual uptake of circular economy principles will have an impact on trade patterns.&nbsp;</strong>Impacts can include reduced trade in primary raw materials, increased trade in secondary materials, increased trade in waste for recycling and second-hand goods,&nbsp;as&nbsp;well&nbsp;as&nbsp;increased&nbsp;trade in&nbsp;products&nbsp;and&nbsp;services&nbsp;in&nbsp;emerging&nbsp;sectors such&nbsp;as&nbsp;waste&nbsp;management and refurbishment.</p><p><strong>Forward&nbsp;looking industrial&nbsp;policies,&nbsp;accordingly,&nbsp;must&nbsp;be attuned&nbsp;with&nbsp;such&nbsp;predicted&nbsp;shifts&nbsp;in&nbsp;trade flows; and trade and investment policies need to be aligned to enable exporters to adapt to and leverage opportunities arising from the circular economy.&nbsp;</strong>Already efforts are underway at the regional levels to&nbsp;build&nbsp;in&nbsp;circular&nbsp;economy principles,&nbsp;such&nbsp;as&nbsp;through&nbsp;the&nbsp;European&nbsp;Union’s Circular&nbsp;Economy&nbsp;Action Plan, the ASEAN Framework for Circular Economy, and the African Circular Economy Alliance; as well as efforts at the national level. Developing countries, however, may lack the technical, financial, and human capacity&nbsp;to&nbsp;effectively&nbsp;implement&nbsp;national&nbsp;plans and&nbsp;policies&nbsp;related to&nbsp;the&nbsp;circular&nbsp;economy&nbsp;and/or translate circular economy principles signed onto at the regional/global level into their national policy frameworks including on trade.</p><p>This webinar will unpack how trade-related policy options and strategies can be effectively leveraged by developing countries to adopt and implement more circularity in their policy frameworks; and assess the constraints/challenges faced by developing countries in facilitating the required policy frameworks and effectively employing circular economy principles to set the foundation for more targeted dialogues and engagements to support developing countries embarking on these crucial reforms.</p><p>For further information on this webinar, please refer to the attached Concept Note and Agenda.</p>

<p>This one-day event hosted by the World Trade Organization and the International Trade Centre focuses on how to contribute to an inclusive transition towards sustainable trade in the exchange of goods and services that generates economic, social, and environmental benefits.&nbsp;</p><p>It brings together leaders, experts, and practitioners to discuss how sustainable trade can be facilitated to help companies and governments meet net-zero commitments made in the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in ways that support small businesses and poorer countries.</p><p>Event location: Room W, WTO, Geneva &nbsp;- &nbsp;and online</p><p>Register for in-person participation <a href="https://wto.formstack.com/forms/wto_itc_facilitating_sustainable_and_in… for online participation via Zoom <a href="https://worldtradeorganization.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Z9VEyRLtQCqp… the event live on YouTube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0tYpgl2Wew">here</a>.&nbsp;</p&gt;

<p>The focus of this year's Aid for Trade Global Review at the WTO is ‘Empowering Connected Sustainable Trade’. ITC and partners are contributing several sessions to the three-day event on concrete solutions for inclusive, green and digital trade. ITC also invites you to coffee tasting sessions with coffee from projects in Africa and Latin America.</p><p>The World Trade Organization's Aid for Trade Global Reviews are monitoring exercises that highlight areas where developing and least developed countries need support to overcome supply-side constraints that limit their participation in global trade.&nbsp; They help galvanize support to address these issues so that developing countries derive maximum benefit from trade.&nbsp;</p><p>Find more information on ITC's participation <a href="https://intracen.org/news-and-events/news/itc-and-partners-aid-for-trad…;

<p>27 June marks the annual celebration of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.</p><p>Resilient recovery is the focus of this year’s events. We honour the entrepreneurs in societies everywhere as they face the triple threat of Covid, conflict and climate.</p><p>This is the fifth anniversary of MSME Day, which the UN General Assembly created to build awareness of the contribution of small businesses to job creation, economic growth and thriving communities. &nbsp;</p><p>The International Trade Centre is a leader of the global celebration of this international day, together with small businesses, governments and civil society.</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>The International Trade Centre (ITC) hosted a webinar on ‘Demystifying the EU’s carbon policies and impact on trade' on Thursday, 19 May from 14H00 - 16H00 CET. This was the second webinar in ITC's ‘Unpacking the EU’s Green Initiatives' webinar series.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>In today’s increasingly complex, fast-paced and highly regulated world, the ability of countries, producers, traders and service providers to access markets and take advantage of the opportunities provided in trade agreements is premised on the ability to be aware of and adapt to environmental rules and requirements.</strong> <strong>For developing countries, however, such&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://intracen.org/resources/publications/sme-competitiveness-outlook… regulations are often perceived as obstacles to their business</strong></a><strong>.</strong> Accordingly, targeted support is required for developing countries, particularly SMEs, to understand and comply with these regulations, ensure that it does not become a barrier to trade, and enable businesses to &nbsp;leverage opportunities arising from green and sustainable trade.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p><p><strong>The EU has been pioneering efforts to facilitate this transition to green and sustainable trade through a host of regulatory initiatives.</strong> ITC's first webinar in this series introduced the various EU regulatory initiatives underway to facilitate the green transition covering the measures to achieve carbon neutrality, develop sustainable supply chains, and strengthen trade in sustainable products, among others. <strong>In the second webinar, ITC will delve into the specific EU policies and regulatory initiatives being implemented to achieve the carbon neutrality through trade.&nbsp;</strong></p><p>The <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-… Green Deal</a> sets out a framework for Europe to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (in other words – carbon neutrality). An intermediate target has been set to reduce GHG by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and the&nbsp;<a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_21_3541">EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ package</a> was introduced as a series of interconnected proposals to achieve this goal. Rules are being created to achieve these goals, including through mechanisms to reduce emissions, investments in green technologies, and trade. Regulatory initiatives with direct trade implications - such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the EU Renewable Energy Directive, and the revision of the Emissions Trading System, are all examples of measures proposed by the European Commission in this context. These carbon regulatory measures may pose market access risks for exporting SMEs, but also present business opportunities for companies in identifying and reducing carbon footprints now to gain secure, preferential trade access later. Overcoming these risks and leveraging business opportunities, however, requires significant actions by SMEs to be able to assess and reduce their carbon footprints, and demonstrate their carbon credentials in a manner compliant with the prospective EU regulations.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>At this webinar, ITC presented the EU’s carbon related regulations in the context of its application in the trade policy framework, and domestic measures required by developing countries to create a conducive framework for businesses, particularly SMEs, to align with carbon related regulations and become more competitive players in the market. &nbsp;</strong></p><p>The presentations delivered at the webinar are attached.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>