What does climate change mean for the future of trade?

Climate change disrupts the natural resources and infrastructure essential for trade in developing nations, threatening livelihoods and global supply chains. To counter this, the author advocates for removing subsidies for unsustainable activities, dismantling tariffs on environmental technologies, and increasing private investment and climate finance for sustainable development.

• Climate change negatively impacts the production and trade capacity of rural communities in developing countries by altering natural habitats. Examples include a 2011 drought-induced famine in the Horn of Africa affecting over 10 million people, fungus attacking coffee plantations in Latin America, and the degradation of coral reefs affecting tourism in Africa and Asia.
• Global trade infrastructure is vulnerable to climate change, specifically ports which handle over 70% of trade by value and 80% by volume. For instance, a projected 70-centimeter sea level rise by 2070 could devastate Dar es Salaam, a critical port city for Tanzania and East African trade.
• Trade policy should be leveraged to fight climate change by eliminating subsidies for fossil fuels and fish stocks, and by removing tariffs on green technologies. Some countries currently maintain tariffs on wind turbines above 15% and solar water heaters above 20%.
• There is a significant funding gap for sustainability in developing countries, estimated at approximately $2.5 trillion annually to meet Sustainable Development Goals. The author suggests that stock exchanges can help by requiring environmental and social governance reporting to direct resources toward climate adaptation and mitigation.

APA

Reiter, J. (2015). What does climate change mean for the future of trade? World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/what-does-climate-change-mean-for-the-future-of-trade/

Chicago

Reiter, Joakim. What does climate change mean for the future of trade? World Economic Forum, 2015. https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/what-does-climate-change-mean-for-the-future-of-trade/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Reiter |first1=Joakim |title=What does climate change mean for the future of trade? |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=11 December 2015 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/what-does-climate-change-mean-for-the-future-of-trade/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{reiter2015what, author = {Reiter, Joakim}, title = {{What does climate change mean for the future of trade?}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2015}, month = dec, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/what-does-climate-change-mean-for-the-future-of-trade/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }