Trade rules and environmental protection, and sustainable development more broadly, should be made mutually supportive. In light of recent changes both in the trade and in the climate regimes, there is a need to explore the potentials and pitfalls of this endeavor. The World Trade Organization (WTO) seeks to contribute to the protection of the environment through work in different WTO bodies and through negotiations under its auspice. The rising number of bilateral and regional trade agreements entails progressively more environmental content but they also generate debate about their implications for environmental protection. At the same time, environmental agreements address trade issues ever more. For example, trade-related elements feature in many National Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Climate Agreement. In view of the increasingly interconnected relationship between trade and environmental policies and new datasets that map the latest developments and in light of heated controversies about the interlinkages between international trade and environmental protection, DIE organized a roundtable discussion on Trade and Environment with Aik Hoe Lim, Director of the Trade and Environment Division, of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Programme

Registration, Light Lunch Served

Welcome and Introduction

• Clara Brandi, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

Trade and Environment from a WTO-Perspective – State of Play and Looking Ahead

• Aik Hoe Lim, Director of the Trade and Environment Division, WTO

Environmental Provisions in Trade Agreements – Exploring the Trade and Environment Database (TREND)

• Axel Berger, DIE

Trade and Climate under the Paris Agreement – Harnessing Trade to Foster NDC Implementation?

• Clara Brandi, DIE

Roundtable Discussion

• facilitated by Axel Berger, DIE