MACHINE NAME = WEB 2

Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting on Implementing The Paris Agreement: Response Measures and Trade


03 October 2017
09:00 - 17:00 hrs.
Geneva
, Switzerland

​The Paris Agreement opens up the prospects of a collective transformation. The most important feature of this transformation is the shared challenge of economic diversification. There is also a related challenge of making this transformation a just and equitable one. In particular, countries will have to deal with its effects in terms of jobs to be gained - or lost.

Economic diversification and a just transition of the workforce are now front and center in the work of the UNFCCC Forum on Response Measures. And while the just transition of the workforce is considered an objective, economic diversification is mostly seen as a tool to address the impacts of mitigation measures.

Response measures denote in the UNFCCC parlance mitigation measures with cross-border impacts. For developed countries, these measures tend to raise competitiveness concerns. For developing countries, they normally mean concerns relating to economic diversification. Trade serves as a transmission mechanism for cross-border impacts and is largely seen as part of the problem, with competitiveness considerations dominating the policy discourse.

At COP 22 in Marrakech, UNCTAD was invited to accompany the technical expert group meeting conducted under the Forum on Response Measures. This is an important step in acknowledging the relevance of trade to the work of the Forum, which is implicit in the title of the Forum itself.

Response measures are increasingly seen as a form of international cooperation. Trade is traditionally seen through the lens of a competitive relationship, but it has an enormous cooperation potential, too. The challenge is to change the approach from one of allocating or shifting burdens among countries through trade restrictive measures, to figuring out ways in which trade could help all countries share the benefits of transforming their economies.

International trade is increasingly used to make goods, not just to sell them. In the manufacturing sector, up to 80 percent of trade flows take place within global value chains. And it is within value chains that countries will be looking for and finding various routes for economic diversification and social upgrading. Value chains will also serve as transmitters of resource and environmental costs.

The expert meeting is meant to explore the role of value chains in the interface between response measures and trade. The outcome of the meeting will serve as an input to the work of the Forum on Response Measures. Policy relevant parts of the discussion will be presented at a UNFCCC event during COP 23 in Bonn in November this year.

Provisional Programme

10–11 a.m.

Opening and keynote statements

- Ms. Isabelle Durant, Deputy Secretary-General, UNCTAD

- Ms. Dorothy Ng'ambi Tembo, Deputy Executive Director, International Trade Center

- Mr. Tomasz Chruszczow, Chair, Subsidiary Body for Implementation, UNFCCC, Minister Counsellor, Ministry of the Environment, Poland

11 a.m.–1 p.m.

Session I

Moderator:
Mr. Lucas Assuncao,
Head, Trade, Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Branch, UNCTAD

- Mr. William Kojo Agyemang-Bonsu, Manager, Mitigation and Transparency Support, Mitigation, Data and Analysis Programme, UNFCCC
  Assessing the impact of response measures implementation.

- Mr. Peter Govindasamy, Co-Chair of TEG, Director, International Trade Cluster, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore
  Deliberations in the Ad Hoc Technical Experts Group (TEG) on Response Measures.

- Mr. Alexey Vikhlyaev, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Trade, Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Branch, UNCTAD
  The Paris Agreement and links to trade.

- Mr. Aaron Cosbey, Associate and Senior Climate Change and Trade Advisor, International Institute for Sustainable Development, (IISD)
  Climate policies, economic diversification and trade.

- Mr. Aik Hoe Lim, Director, Trade and Environment Division, WTO
  Trade as an Enabler of Diversification in the Context of Climate Change.

1–3 p.m.

Lunch break

3–5.30 p.m.

Session II

Moderators:
Mr. Lucas Assuncao,
Head, Mr. Alexey Vikhlyaev, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Trade, Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Branch, UNCTAD

- Mr. Andrei Marcu, Director European Roundtable on Climate Change and Sustainable Transition, Facilitator Forum on Response Measures
  Impacts of mitigation policies and sustainability of the transition.

- Ms. Morgenie Pillay, Deputy Director, Multilateral Organizations, Trade Policy and Negotiations, South Africa
  Contextual analysis of response measures: what is at stake for Africa?

- Ms. Kusum Lata, Team Lead, Mitigation Impact Analysis and Support Unit, Mitigation,
           Data and Analysis Programme, UNFCCC
  Economic diversification in the context of response measures.

- Mr. Anders Aeroe, Director, Division of Enterprises and Institutions, ITC
  Governance of global value chains.

- Mr. Brendan Vickers, Economic Adviser, Trade Division, Commonwealth Secretariat
  Diversifying into Services: Case Studies from The Commonwealth.

- Mr. Neil Foster-McGregor, Research Fellow at UNU-Merit in Maastricht, Research Associate at Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies
  Recent developments in global value chain participation: trends and prospects.

Commentators:
- Ms. Daria Taglioni (by video-link), Lead Economist and the Global Solutions Lead on Global Value Chains, Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice, World Bank
  Economic upgrading through global value chain participation: which policies increase
  the value added gains?

- Mr. Dario Piselli, Graduate Institute

- Mr. Simon Bolwig, Senior Researcher Head of Climate Change and Sustainable
             Development Group Technical University of Denmark

- Mr. Fabian Waldmeier, Sustainability Director, MaxHavelaar Switzerland

 

5.30–6 p.m.

Closing

UNFCCC, UNCTAD, ITC and WTO

 

There is some issue in accessing document path, Please contact to Site Admin


languages
Language(s)
English  |    
Related Site:

TED branch, home page
Trade and Environment, Climate Change and
 Sustainable Development.
http://unctad.org/topic/trade-and-environment


Special event at COP22
Side Event on Implementing the Paris Agreement: United Nations Agencies' Dialogue on Impacts of Mitigation Measures and Linkages with Trade 
12 November 2016, COP 22 Marrakesh, Morocco

 


Special event at COP21. United for Climate Action.
Climate Change and the Role of Markets and Trade: Leveraging Co-benefits 
9 December 2015, COP 21 Paris

 

Related

Meeting series

Contact

Mr. Alexey Vikhlyaev Alexey.Vikhlyaev@unctad.org
Mr. Henrique Pacini Henrique.Pacini@unctad.org  
tel: 41 22 917 74693; fax: 41 22 917 0247