Trade and Climate: EU and partner countries launch the ‘Coalition of Trade Ministers on Climate’

Today, the European Commission, EU Member States, and 26 partners countries will launch “The Coalition of Trade Ministers on Climate”, the first Ministerial-level global forum dedicated to trade and climate and sustainable development issues. The Coalition will foster global action to promote trade policies that can help address climate change through local and global initiatives.

The Coalition aims to build partnerships between trade and climate communities to identify the ways in which trade policy can contribute to addressing climate change. It will promote trade and investment in goods, services and technologies that help mitigate and adapt to climate change.

A prominent element of the Coalition’s agenda is to identify ways in which trade policies can support the most vulnerable developing and least developed countries that face the greatest risks from climate change.

This high-level political dialogue will see the participation of Trade Ministers from different regions and income levels. Civil society, business, international organisations and climate and finance communities will participate in the Coalition’s work.

The Coalition is open to all interested countries, and so far consists of more than 50 ministers from 27 jurisdictions. The four co-leads are Ecuador, the EU, Kenya, and New Zealand. The other participants are: Angola, Australia, Barbados, Cabo Verde, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Iceland, Gambia, Japan (Foreign Affairs & Trade), Republic of Korea, Maldives, Mozambique, Norway, Philippines, Rwanda, Zambia, Singapore, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and Vanuatu.

The Coalition will provide political guidance and identify trade-related strategies to adapt to changing climate conditions and extreme weather, for instance through the production, diffusion, accessibility and uptake of climate-friendly technologies. It will focus on finding trade-related solutions to the climate crisis in line with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement, and the Sustainable Development Goals, whilst supporting ongoing efforts in this area in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Next Steps

The next Ministerial meeting will take place in the margins of the next WTO Ministerial Conference planned in early 2024.

Background

The Climate Coalition was officially launched during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos on 19 January 2022. It aims to identify the ways trade and trade policy can have a positive contribution to the current climate crisis. It will be a forum of high-level political dialogue to foster international cooperation on climate, trade and sustainable development.