Transitioning to the Circular Economy: The role of Trade and Investment Policies

<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>