World Trade Organization (WTO) Warns More Progress Needed in Fighting Climate Change to Sustain Global Trade

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd October, 2018) The World Trade Organization (WTO) urged on Tuesday in a report to increase implementation of policies aimed at fighting climate change and other environmental challenges in order to improve global trade and avoid any impact on countries' endowments.

"Despite significant progress in recent years, institutions and policies still fall short of what is required for production and consumption decisions to reflect true environmental costs, for companies to be able to take full advantage of green production opportunities, and for consumers to act upon their intentions to purchase affordable, sustainable products. More rapid progress is also needed in avoiding and mitigating any harmful environmental impacts caused by trade, including growing carbon emissions from international transport," the WTO report "Making trade work for the environment, prosperity and resilience" said.

The organization warned that unless tackled, climate change may undermine trade by affecting countries' "endowments and production more broadly."

"Increased temperatures and changes in rainfall often lead to significant reductions in crop yields and agricultural output in many regions of the world, making agricultural production and trade particularly vulnerable to climatic changes," the WTO said.

While the fight against climate change also requires strengthening international cooperation to remove trade barriers on environmental goods, close ties between the WTO and the United Nations are also needed, according to the report.

"The Executive Director of UN Environment, Erik Solheim, and the Director-General of the WTO, Roberto Azevedo, announced in 2018 their commitment to strengthen the cooperation between their organizations. UN Environment and the World Trade Organization are cooperating to assist countries around the world to reach mutually beneficial solutions that allow trade to work for a healthy and more resilient environment and a prosperous economy," the report announced.

The Paris Agreement on climate change, signed by more than 190 parties, was adopted within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2015 and came into force in November 2016. The main goal of the accord is to tackle climate change by keeping the rise in global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The signatories are to develop and execute their own plans to reduce the effect of global warming.