3 October 2017: In preparation for the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the UNFCCC, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) convened an Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting on Implementing the Paris Agreement, which sought to provide input to the UNFCCC forum on the impact of the implementation of response measures by addressing the role of value chains in the interface between response measures and trade.

In the UNFCCC process, response measures are understood to refer to mitigation measures with cross-border impacts. The Paris Agreement on climate change institutionalized the discussion on the issue by stating that Parties “shall take into consideration in the implementation of this Agreement the concerns of Parties with economies most affected by the impacts of response measures, particularly developing country Parties.” For developed countries, response measures tend to raise competitiveness concerns, whereas for developing countries, they usually amount to economic diversification.

For developed countries, response measures tend to raise competitiveness concerns, whereas for developing countries, they usually amount to economic diversification.

The one-day expert meeting, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 3 October 2017, brought together trade policy officials and practitioners, trade and climate change negotiators, and representatives of environmental authorities, business associations and private companies. Representatives from the UNCTAD, UNFCCC, World Trade Organization (WTO), International Trade Centre (ITC), UN University (UNU), International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and others considered ways to manage the risks, co-benefits and cooperation inherent in the relationship between response measures and international trade.

Discussions addressed, inter alia: trade as an enabler of diversification in the context of climate change; assessing impacts of implementation of response measures; economic diversification in the context of response measures; impacts of mitigation policies and sustainability of transition; and contextual analyses and case studies from Africa, the Commonwealth and Poland, among others. [Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting on Implementing the Paris Agreement: Response Measures and Trade] [UNCTAD Notification] [Conference Room Paper] [UNFCCC Webpage on Impact of Implementation of Response Measures] [Paris Agreement]