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The document examines how international trade drives biodiversity loss through agricultural commodity expansion and resource extraction, while analyzing the potential for trade policies, multilateral rules, and supply chain initiatives to support nature conservation.

The Coalition of Trade Ministers on Climate has established a framework of voluntary actions to integrate trade policy with climate goals. Key priorities include fostering dialogue between trade, climate, and finance ministers, engaging with the WTO on sustainable development, and providing technical assistance to vulnerable developing countries. The menu also emphasizes cooperation on green technologies, decarbonisation standards, and private sector engagement to build resilient supply chains.

This briefing note from the Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs provides recommendations for integrating human health protections into the development of a global instrument to end plastic pollution, specifically referencing the draft text in NP3.

The document outlines a framework for operationalizing human health protection in a future global plastics treaty. It proposes four complementary sets of provisions: addressing health impacts across the plastic life cycle, improving information availability, supporting effective implementation, and enabling progressive treaty development based on evolving science. It specifically advocates for a dedicated article on human health to foster international cooperation and protect vulnerable populations, such as informal waste workers and fence-line communities, from the neurotoxic, carcinogenic, and endocrine-disrupting effects of plastic chemicals and pollution.

TESS supports the WTO's Dialogue on Plastics Pollution (DPP) and its draft Ministerial Statement for MC13, emphasizing that trade policies are essential tools for addressing plastic pollution. TESS advocates for a post-MC13 workplan that includes 'deep-dive sessions' on challenges like single-use plastics and sachets, particularly focusing on the needs of developing countries, LDCs, and SIDS. The statement also highlights TESS's upcoming initiatives, including a panel at MC13 and a seminar with the World Customs Organization on Harmonized System (HS) amendments.

TESS supports the revised draft Ministerial Statement for the WTO Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade (DPP), noting its evolution from identifying issues to agreeing on voluntary international cooperation. The statement emphasizes the need for trade-related capacity building for developing members, including LDCs, SVEs, and SIDS, and suggests that the DPP's work should complement the negotiations for a legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution. TESS also promotes its own policy research on standards, single-use plastics, and waste management technologies to inform the dialogue.

The Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs (TESS) provided a statement at the WTO Dialogue on Plastic Pollution (DPP) pre-plenary meeting on 13 June 2024. TESS advocates for narrowing the DPP's scope to achieve concrete, actionable outcomes, specifically focusing on harmonizing definitions of single-use plastics, reforming HS nomenclature for better visibility of problematic plastics, and promoting trade in environmentally sound waste management technologies.