Report

Greening Aid for Trade

Pathways for a just and fair transition to sustainable trade

Greening Aid for Trade: Pathways for a just and fair transition to sustainable trade is an important element of the international cooperation and financing required to help governments, businesses, and citizens implement the economic transformations needed to achieve a greener global economy and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This report explains how, in playing this crucial role, Aid for Trade strategies could be shaped to ensure a just and fair transition for developing countries.

By Carolyn Deere Birkbeck on July 27, 2022

Addressing the urgent planetary crises of biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution will require strong and durable efforts to harness trade and trade policy for sustainable development across its social, environmental, and economic dimensions. Aid for Trade (A4T) should be viewed as a vital part of the policy toolkit for trade and trade policies that advance sustainable development and respond to urgent environmental crises.

Greening A4T requires a nuanced approach that pursues simultaneous action through six complementary pathways underpinned by the sustainable development priorities of developing and least developed countries: mainstreaming environmental goals into A4T; securing new resources for environment-related A4T support; fostering coherence between A4T and broader global policy agendas; ensuring A4T monitoring captures the environmental purpose and impact of A4T projects; integrating trade considerations into climate and environment funding; and strengthening South–South cooperation. Investing in national processes in both developed and developing countries will be essential for integrated decision making and stakeholder consultation on the role of trade and trade policies in sustainable development—and the environment-related and A4T priorities that flow from these.

Report details

Topic
Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Finance
Trade
Focus area
Economies
Act Together
Publisher
IISD
Copyright
IISD, 2022