www.uncsd2012.org

RIO+20 Issues Briefs
Produced by the UNCSD Secretariat and UNCTAD

March 2011 No. 1

Trade and Green Economy
1. Introduction
The potential trade risks of a transition to a green economy — protectionism, conditionality, subsidies — are issues of long standing and not unique to the green economy. The urgency of the global challenges which a green economy transformation is intended to address, and the scale of the actions being taken by many countries to build green economies, does however bring renewed focus to these risks. At the same time, the new greening of markets associated with a green economy may provide opportunities for many developing countries to find global markets for goods and services with low environmental impacts. This will, however, test the supply capacities of developing countries as reflected, for example, in domestic trade infrastructure. The green economy offers an opportunity to improve both global trade governance and the domestic trade environment to ensure that trade contributes positively to a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication. 4) Unilateral policy measures: Many countries seem committed to the use of trade measures to persuade other countries to change their domestic environmental practices, despite the fact that many measures may be contrary to GATT-WTO rules (see Table 1 and discussion). 5) International environmental, climate change agreements/conventions: The outcome of negotiations on climate change will have an influence on trade, e.g., by affecting the consumption of various natural resources which are traded and shifting demand for various low-carbon technologies (see Table 1). Some countries have expressed concerns that a green economy transition could cause their export industries to 1 experience declining demand or competitiveness. These concerns can be