WTO members deepen discussions on trade and climate measures, share updates

The Chair of the CTE, Ambassador Ram Prasad Subedi of Nepal, facilitated the regular meeting on 29 September, which was preceded by a thematic session on 28 September.

The CTE's thematic session on “trade-related climate measures, including interoperability and development aspects” was co-moderated by Mr Håvard Hugås of Norway and Ms Nur Karabağ of Türkiye.

The session sought to move the discussions beyond a general mapping of trade-related climate measures (TrCMs) towards a more operational examination of what interoperability means in practice. The discussion sought to identify where compliance challenges arise for governments and businesses, with a focus on steel, while exploring cooperative solutions and integrating development considerations in regulatory design choices, implementation, and monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems.

Through expert panel discussions, the session examined the issues and discussed tools, mechanisms and frameworks that could address compliance challenges and increase cooperation, including at the WTO. 

The subsequent discussion among members reinforced these themes.  Australia and China circulated an informal, non-official document for discussion, putting forward some ideas on interoperability and possible follow-up in the CTE.  

Since November 2023, the CTE has held thematic and interactive sessions on topics of interest to the membership. Previous sessions have addressed topics such as the clean energy transition, sustainable agriculture, trade-related climate measures, and technology transfer.

All presentations delivered at this seventh thematic session are available here.

Based on the CTE Chair's proposal, the next CTE thematic session will be held in December 2026 with a focus on environmental goods and services, including bio-inputs. This will be followed by a session on the circular economy in February 2027.  Co-moderators will help shape these sessions.