Trade and Sustainable Development Symposium

The flexibility of the Paris Agreement leaves considerable leeway for governments to set their own emissions targets and to design policies and measures for meeting those targets. In addition, a variety of firms and stakeholders are taking initiatives to enhance climate action irrespective of government action, not the least in the food sector. In fact, as producers strive to reduce their carbon footprint, a range of labels, standards and guidelines are emerging and proliferating, constituting a complex web of requirements which producers and exporters need to meet in order to market their products. In the context of international trade, this is on the one hand beneficial, as consumers may exercise some control over the produce they purchase, and producers can get credit for being carbon efficient. On the other hand, multiple requirements, possibly conflicting or overlapping, may effectively create barriers to trade for producers, in particular in developing countries with limited capacity. In addition, there’s the challenge of effectively recognising the efforts towards sustainability of individual producers. The evolution of this complex landscape is happening largely in parallel to the work of intergovernmental agencies dealing with related issues. The WTO indeed deals with issues related to market access and technical barriers to trade in food and agriculture, but not as a priority at MC11. In reality much of the progress is happening elsewhere, such as in bilateral or regional free trade agreements. The UNFCCC similarly takes note of how responses to climate change may cause social and economic impacts on third countries, but without taking a more proactive stance in the area of food standard and labels. 

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