The Least Developed Countries Report 2022: The Low-Carbon Transition and Its Daunting Implications for Structural Transformation

The Trade and Development Board

1. Notes The Least Developed Countries Report 2022: The Low-carbon Transition and its Daunting Implications for Structural Transformation, and welcomes the choice of this timely topic;
2. Notes with concern that the least developed countries suffer disproportionately from the adverse effects of climate change, given their very marginal contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions and climate change;
3. Welcomes the commitments made in the context of the Paris Agreement and of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and recognizes that the least developed countries need to receive assistance from their development partners and the international community to pursue their development goals and their climate-related commitments;
4. Notes that the use of policy instruments for environmental purposes with potential impact on international trade can have unintended consequences for partner countries, especially the least developed countries, which need to be addressed to aid their pursuit of structural transformation and economic diversification;
5. Concurs with the report’s finding that, for the least developed countries to achieve green structural transformation, a balance between effective domestic policy actions and strong international support, especially in the areas of finance, technology and capacity-building, are required;
6. Decides to further explore the report’s recommendations for green structural transformation as a framework that seeks to reconcile long-standing least developed country objectives of progress towards sectors and activities with higher productivity and higher value added and out of the commodity-dependence trap;
7. Calls upon UNCTAD to play an active role in the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2022–2031, especially through its work on vulnerability and resilience building, smooth transition strategies to graduate with momentum, productive capacities, green structural transformation, investment analysis, policy dialogue, training, regional integration and capacity-building among other topical areas of UNCTAD expertise;
8. Invites donor countries, and other countries in a position to do so, to replenish the UNCTAD Trust Fund for the Least Developed Countries.