March 2017: The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the UN Environment Programme launched an online toolkit for trade negotiators, during the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) Ministerial Conference 2017. The toolkit looks at trade and investment as vehicles for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The toolkit is one of 17 featured ‘Green Economy Pioneers’ platforms and networks that were featured at an exhibition space during the PAGE Conference. The Conference convened from 27-28 March 2017, in Berlin, Germany.

The toolkit seeks to assist negotiators of regional trade and investment agreements (RTIAs), recognizing that negotiators with an environmental background may not have expertise in how trade policy can affect environmental objectives, while trade policy negotiators “may not have a depth of expertise on environmental matters or how they are affected by trade law and policy.” The toolkit identifies best practices for the sections in RTIAs that may have environmental implications, and includes over 200 text examples for these sections, drawn from over 90 different source agreements. Separate sections of the toolkit focus on: Why Is Sustainable Development Important for Trade and Investment Agreements?; Housing Environment within the Agreement; Environmental Provisions; Trade Provisions; Investment Provisions; and Process.

The toolkit was co-developed and is maintained by UN Environment and IISD, with funding from UN Environment. [Publication: A Sustainability Toolkit for Trade Negotiators: Trade and Investment as Vehicles for Achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda] [Green Economy Pioneers at PAGE Ministerial] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on PAGE Conference]