Delivering a Climate Trade Agenda: Industry Insights

The report argues that a stable, open, and rules-based global trading environment is essential for the green transition. It identifies key trade barriers to decarbonization, including tariffs on environmental goods, non-tariff barriers like local content requirements, and regulatory divergence in standards. The document emphasizes the need for international price signals, such as carbon pricing, to incentivize lower-emission production, particularly in commoditized industries. It proposes several paths forward, including reducing tariffs on climate-friendly goods, phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, and aligning on carbon-based trade policies like border carbon adjustments to ensure a level playing field.

• A stable and open global trading system is essential for the green transition, as trade policy instability increases the cost and slows the pace of decarbonization investment.
• Non-tariff barriers (NTBs), specifically local content requirements (LCRs), are significant obstacles to the deployment of green technologies, such as electric vehicles and batteries.
• Regulatory divergence in technical standards and conformity assessments disrupts the industry transition, particularly in shipping, aviation, and the production of green steel and cement.
• The lack of international price signals for emissions is a primary barrier to scaling lower-emission production, especially in commoditized sectors like steel, mining, energy, and agriculture.
• Fossil fuel subsidies create market distortions that act as a counterweight to carbon pricing, keeping the cost of high-emitting activities artificially low.
• There is a growing risk of trade conflict and 'level playing field' concerns as countries implement divergent carbon-based trade policies, such as the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
• Digital services, AI, and cross-border data flows are critical enablers for the transition to net-zero, supporting everything from grid management to emissions monitoring.
• The circular economy is hindered by supply chain issues, including a lack of consistent standards for recycled content and difficulties in reverse supply chains for product recovery across borders.

APA

World Economic Forum (2021). Delivering a Climate Trade Agenda: Industry Insights. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Delivering_a_Climate_Trade_Agenda_2021.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Delivering a Climate Trade Agenda: Industry Insights. 2021. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Delivering_a_Climate_Trade_Agenda_2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Delivering a Climate Trade Agenda: Industry Insights |date=September 2021 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Delivering_a_Climate_Trade_Agenda_2021.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2021delivering, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Delivering a Climate Trade Agenda: Industry Insights}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2021}, month = sep, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Delivering_a_Climate_Trade_Agenda_2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }