- Global land use change and commodity agriculture have significantly impacted forests and biodiversity. A large portion of these impacts are associated with international trade. - Trade policies and agreements need to do more to incentivize sustainable production and reduce environmental harms, including by mainstreaming sustainability across agreements and improving enforcement. - Tools are being developed to measure the environmental impacts of trade between nations and sectors to help shift trade towards sustainability. Further work is needed to ensure trade agreements benefit both developed and developing countries.

1. Roles of sustainable
commodity trade in global
green deals
Principal Investigator: Prof. Neil Burgess
The UN Environment Programme World
Conservation (UNEP-WCMC)

2. I. The Status Quo
Global land use change,
emissions & trade
2

3. Pressure to address unsustainable land use change is
mounting ...
3
Source: Hugo Ahlenius,
UNEP/GRID-Arendal (2009)
Global land use change is estimated to
have already cleared or converted:
• 70 % of grassland
• 50 % of savanna,
• 45 % of temperate deciduous
forest, and
• 27% of tropical forests.

4. 4
Source: Ourworldindata
..and food production and agriculture lie at the heart of the
challenge
They will be
essential to
tackle:
- climate change,
- reducing water
stress,
- pollution,
- restoring lands
back to forests
or grasslands,
- and protecting
the world’s
wildlife.

5. Example I: Soybean
Env Challenges: land
grabbing, deforestation,
greenhouse gas
emissions and
biodiversity loss
Only a fraction of total
production is consumed
as food by humans,
most is used as animal
feed or as a base for
biofuel production
Source: De Maria, M., Robinson, E. J. Z., Kangile, J. R., Kadigi, R., Dreoni, I., Couto, M., Howai, N., Peci, J., Fiennes, S. (2020): Global Soybean Trade. The
Geopolitics of a Bean. UK Research and Innovation Global Challenges Research Fund (UKRI GCRF) Trade, Development and the Environment Hub.

6. Over the past 25 years,
global oil crops have
expanded rapidly, with major
impacts on land use.
Regional tropical
deforestation – expansion
contributes between est. 3%
in West Africa to 50% in
Malaysian Borneo.
Delivering the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs)
requires balancing demands
on land between agriculture
(SDG 2) and biodiversity
(SDG 15)
6
Example II: Palm Oil
Fig. 4: Species groups with more than eight threatened species with the terms ‘palm oil’ or ‘oil palm’ in the
threats texts of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Assessments26.
Source: Meijaard, E., Brooks, T.M., Carlson, K.M. et al. The environmental impacts of palm oil in context. Nat. Plants 6, 1418–1426 (2020).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-020-00813-w
UKRI GCRF TRADE HUb

7. A large proportion of total global
impacts can be associated with
trade, and the trend is rising”1
➢ Tropical deforestation for agriculture
and tree plantations releases
2.6 GtCO2yr. 2
➢ 29–39% of emissions are driven by
international trade, mainly in beef and
oilseeds. 2
➢ Imported deforestation emissions
rival domestic agricultural
emissions in many countries.
1Wiedmann, T., Lenzen, M (2018)
2. Pedril et al.(2019)
7
Source: Hugo Ahlenius, UNEP/GRID-Arendal

8. Impacts embodied in trade are growing, while environmental impacts are
being displaced to developing regions 1,2
➢ Increasing
biodiversity loss &
deforestation risks
in net-resource
exporting countries
➢ Threatening
intactness of major
carbon sinks
situated largely in
these regions
8
1 UNEP and IRP (2020).
2 Wood, R., et al (2018).
Source: UNEP and IRP (2020).

9. II. Solutions
What role for trade policy?
9
“proactive and forward looking trade policies can be part of the solution
to mounting environmental challenges while enhancing prosperity“
(UNEP & WTO 2018)

10. ‘Bending the curve’ only possible with societal transformation
underpinned by sustainable economic and trade system…
• requires “far reaching
societal transformation”
(IPBES 2019),
• ambitious biodiversity
conservation (increase
to 30% of land cover),
• A shift to sustainable
consumption and
production
10
Leclère et al. 2020
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2705-y
UKRI GCRF TRADE Hub collaboration

11. ...But trade can only exert its
positive impact in the presence of
• functioning markets,
• effective institutions,
• and sound social and
environmental policies“
(UNEP & WTO 2018)
11

12. Trade policy must beyond its current role of providing access to
technology to actively strengthen enabling factors for sustainable
trade
12
✓Mainstream sustainable development- including environmental
sustainability- in the global trade system
✓Ensure that trade agreements set the right incentives to move towards
a sustainable economy
✓Advance the development of international standards for circularity &
the sustainable use of nature
✓Modernize trade data and statistics to enable supply chain
transparency and assessing env sustainability of trade flows based on
their product, production and process characteristics.

13. III. Shifting trade – through tade
agreements - towards greater
sustainability
13

14. Environment in Free Trade Agreements:
state of play
Reviews indicate that:
• Provisions in existing FTAs do not provide a comprehensive
framework for the environment, including on safeguards for
biodiversity and/or incentives for biodiversity-friendly trade.
• The process for monitoring and enforcement of environmental
provisions lacks teeth.
• Assessment of impacts of FTAs (ex ante and ex post) on
environment and related social issues does not “match” the
magnitude and urgency of issues, both in terms of methodologies
used and process.

15. FTAs: Possible ways forward
Mainstream environment in the
text of FTAs
The process for monitoring and
enforcement of environmental
provisions lacks teeth.
Assessment of impacts of FTAs
• (ex ante and ex post) on
environment and related social
issues does not “match” the
magnitude and urgency of
issues, both in terms of
methodologies used and
process.
➢make provisions more specific and easier to monitor and
enforce, e.g. by including specific targets and timelines
for their delivery,
➢Mainstream env – beyond Sustainable Development
chapter to trade chapters such as Investment and Tariffs
and Barriers to Trade (TBT) chapters
➢Improve stakeholder engagement and political
cooperation, incl. via capacity building and financial
support
➢ create better feedback loops from scientific evidence to
FTA implementation
➢Improve transparency of FTA drafting and consultation
process

16. FTAs: How can we do this fairly – between the
Global North and South?
Mutual commitment to reduce environmental
harm
➢ Mutually agree on refraining from env. harmful
practises
➢ Strengthen env. safeguards and adequate
monitoring and enforcement mechanisms for
those
Enable and incentivize sustainable production
and trade
➢ Mutual recognition/harmonization of env.
standards
➢ Enable and reward shift from unsustainable - to
sustainable trade
What can be recommended to industrialized, global
North trading partners?
• Critically evaluate and address own env harmful
practises
• e.g. phase out harmful subsidies on fossil fuels,
agricultural subsidies etc.
• Provide adequate financial and technical support
to help trading partner implement commitments
• e.g. via Aid-for-Trade,
• Provide access to sustainable Trade finance
• Training for sustainable production, etc.
• Create real opportunities for sustainable trade
• Reward sustainable production via tariff
differentiation
• Reward production in value-added goods and
diversification

17. Trade Agreements: Nature at the WTO – State
of Play
• Multilateral trade agreements (at the World Trade
Organization, WTO)​
• Biodiversity has not featured prominently as an issue in
WTO discussions by and in itself – however various are of
relevance to biodiversity
• through discussions such as the TESSD, member of the
WTO may call for:
• A focus on ways to support deforestation- free supply chains for
internationally traded commodities
• To frame the issues of sustainable agriculture and related
concerns about deforestation and biodiversity loss, under a wider
umbrella of trade policy issues relevant to sustainable agriculture

18. Trade Agreements: Nature at the WTO – Ways
forward
• Make use of WTO as only standing international forum for
negotiation and exchange on trade-related issues
• Advance enhanced trade and env discussions
• Bring trade-related issues in working party groups beyond
Trade and Environment Committee, to Committees such
as Barriers to Trade, SPS, etc
• Improve transparency on decision making at the WTO

19. IV. Tools to measure
change

20. Nation to Nation trade impact tools
Source: www.commodityfootprints.earth
Source: UK Global Resource Initiative Recommendations Report

21. Economic sector trade impact tools: Encore

22. Supply chain impact tools - Trase
Source: www.trase.earth

23. Further resources
https://www.unep.org/resources/publication/trade-development-and-nature-
introductory-learning-companion
https://tessforum.org/news/publications/biodiversity-and-international-trade-policy-
primer-how-does-nature-fit-in-the-sustainable-trade-agenda/
https://tradehub.earth/
Review EU trade deals in terms of how ‘green’ they are
https://url6.mailanyone.net/v1/?m=1n5R2T-0001YA-
4J&i=57e1b682&c=QJ51Rcw60GTStuTR9Ew_GhbqvGbIJOuBXipvKTd6-
qwSzWZXX77rG8iredxYISnOD0M3mWVsONKRHjSBDFSSqVPZbEPyUwmRgX8
cFUNbns3yKyuLF9n16gdp1vXHZ1W2ZdhirgPMwXNY9-
OzdgvZr1Nvkfja5ecWcV6b0vrebg42sH0Z1MmWuQ9v9ocAxsTofce4dDBiI66J8EZ
E_LHWGL3K6USPP9crQqwuNWGs_aLYbf9CAXJjqo72gJwaZRqfQFDoKUE3lwu
YLyIFmnFjKniqzskTTtHE3m0hwU8GdBtl6reZBD-qfe6KGnEqe3Cw

24. 24
www.tradehub.earth
Thank you !