Impacts on Developing Countries from Recent Efforts to Align Trade and Sustainability Policies by the EU and the OECD

Speakers: Marianne Kuttennen, IEEP Brussels
Shunta Yamaguchi, OECD Paris

About the Seminar:  Policies from developed countries aimed at promoting sustainability often carry consequences for developing countries, and one of the major channels for that is international trade. In 2019 the European Union launched a “green new deal” policy package to align actions on trade, climate and SDGs. Components of such package are likely to impact competitiveness, such as provisions to stimulate circular economy practices within and across the block.

Echoing developments at the EU level, and answering to longstanding calls for policy coherence, the OECD has been similarly active on work linking trade and environment, with special emphases on regional trade agreements, circular economy, climate change and environmental indicators. Recent modelling work from the OECD has explored climate change impacts on trade, and how trade flexibility could increase climate resilience.

This lunch seminar will explore the impact that sustainability policies in EU and OECD countries have or may have on the developing world.

Speakers will be at their personal capacity and not speaking officially on behalf of their institutions.

This seminar is part of a series of pre-events leading to the first Circular Economy Symposium at Harvard on March 6th (www.circularatharvard.org).