E-training course: Emerging issues at the interplay between trade and sustainable development

Background

The interplay between international trade and the environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development has surged as a critical domain of analysis and governance within the multilateral trading system. Policymakers, institutions and stakeholders concerned with market access, competitiveness, and the regulation of trade in goods and services increasingly recognize that trade policy has both positive and negative direct and profound implications for environmental and social outcomes. The multilateral trading system continues to serve as a cornerstone in shaping the legal and institutional frameworks that govern international commerce, thereby exerting significant influence on advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.

Today, there are more than 250 multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in force globally. These agreements impose substantive obligations that affect both the modalities and volumes of international production and trade. These MEAS increasingly embedded sustainability-related criteria, including technical standards, safety requirements, and measures to safeguard human health and the environment. Simultaneously, market dynamics are being reshaped by the growing demand f or sustainable goods and services, expressed not only by individual consumers but also through public procurement frameworks and private-sector initiatives across both advanced and developing economies.

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We are facing a "triple planetary crisis" of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. This crisis is compounded by heightened uncertainty stemming from shifting geopolitical dynamics, economic volatility, trade tensions, and disruptions. The transboundary and systemic nature of these challenges underscores a central reality: the pursuit of sustainable development and environmental integrity cannot be achieved unilaterally. Instead, such issues possess intrinsic global significance and require coordinated multilateral responses to be addressed effectively.

In this context, aligning trade and environmental policy to capture socio-economic benefits is indispensable. Coordinated multilateral trade and economic policies are crucial for advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly Goals 12 on sustainable consumption and production, 13 on climate action, and 14 on life below water. Furthermore, these policies are instrumental in reinforcing the implementation of major international legal instruments, including the Paris Agreement, the WTO Fisheries Subsidies Agreement (WTO FSA), and the United Nations Agreement on Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement. Collectively, these frameworks reinforce the imperative of integrating environmental considerations into trade regulation and practice, ensuring that international trade in sustainable goods and services contributes to both ecological sustainability and equitable human well-being.

Objective

This online training seeks to provide participants with a better understanding of how recent and emerging multilateral trade and environment agreements, negotiations, and initiatives interact in response to the triple environmental crises, including contemporary and emerging challenges and opportunities, and their implications for market access and sustainable development, with a focus on developing countries. More precisely, this year, the e-training will focus on:

• Climate change and trade policy: Using trade and trade policy to advance national climate plans, including Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and climate action while maximizing GHG reduction effects and minimizing negative spillovers, particularly in developing countries.
• Filling the gaps in a sustainable ocean economic governance: the content and implementation of the WTO fisheries subsidies & selected trade and shipping aspects of United Nations BBNJ Agreements.
• Retake of plastic treaty negotiations (INC process), Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions and regional processes: scaling up circularity in plastics, non-plastic substitutes, including in special sectors such as fishing gear, agriculture and textiles.

Methodology and duration

The online training will consist of 2:15 hour sessions delivered over 3 days.  Through expert-led discussions and interactive exchanges, participants will strengthen their capacity to integrate environmental considerations into trade policy, foster low-carbon, sustainable, and circular value chains that yield socio-economic benefits, and navigate the ratification and implementation of new multilateral agreements, thereby enhancing their ability to integrate environmental considerations into their trade policy.

Audience

This course is targeted at policymakers, trade negotiators, officials from capital, and academics involved in international trade and sustainable development. Registration is mandatory to attend this online training, and a certificate of participation will be awarded to those who attend at least two of the 2-hour sessions.

Modalities

A unique zoom registration and link will be used for all sessions. Registration link to be added.

Tentative agenda

9 December 2025, 3–5:15 p.m. (CET), Session 1: Climate Change, trade policy: advancing NDCs and climate action

17 December, 3–5:15 p.m. (CET), Session 2: Emerging ocean economic sectors and related governance

18 December, 3–5:15 p.m. (CET), Session 3: Plastic treaty negotiations and BRS Conventions processes and scaling up circularity in plastics

Online event evaluation