29 September 2010: The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade and Environment Committee met in Geneva, Switzerland, and exchanged views on national experiences in carbon footprint schemes.

The representative from New Zealand introduced its national Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Footprinting Strategy across the entire supply chain of a product. Chile presented various approaches in its wine, agricultural and mining sectors to assess and find ways to reduce the carbon footprint of each product. Noting the multitude of differing measurement methodologies, several members called for increased transparency and efforts towards the harmonization of carbon footprinting in order to minimize the possibility of using such schemes as disguised barriers to trade.

At the meeting, Committee members heard a presentation from a representative of the UNFCCC, who provided an overview of the on-going climate negotations. He informed that following the Copenhagen Accord, a set of decisions could be an achievable outcome in Cancun including: the formalization of mitigation pledges; the creation of a fund to finance mitigation and adaptation projects; and the establishment of a system for the measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) of mitigation action and support. [IISD RS Sources]