The Coalition will support global efforts to promote trade policies that can help fight climate change through local and global initiatives.
It aims to build partnerships between the trade and climate communities to identify how trade policy can contribute to tackling climate change. It will promote trade and investment in goods, services and technologies that help mitigate and adapt to climate change.
An important part of the coalition’s agenda is to identify ways in which trade policy can support vulnerable developing and least developed countries that are most at risk from climate change.
This high-level policy dialogue will bring together trade ministers from regions with different income levels. Civil society, business, international organizations and the climate and finance communities will participate in the work of the coalition.
All interested countries can join the coalition. To date, it includes over 50 ministers from 27 jurisdictions. The four co-chairs are Ecuador, EU, Kenya and New Zealand. The other participants are: Angola, Australia, Barbados, Gambia, Philippines, Iceland, Japan (Foreign Affairs and Trade), Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Maldives, Mozambique, Norway, Republic of Korea, Cape Verde, Rwanda, Singapore, United Kingdom United States, Switzerland, Ukraine, Vanuatu, United Kingdom and Zambia.
The coalition will provide policy guidance and trade-related strategies to adapt to changing climatic conditions and extreme weather conditions, for example through the production, dissemination, availability and deployment of climate-friendly technologies. It will focus on finding business solutions to the climate crisis in line with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals, while supporting ongoing efforts in this area within the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The climate crisis is an unprecedented challenge that requires a global response. Trade can help find solutions to climate change mitigation and adaptation, for example by expanding access to appropriate technologies and investments. Through this coalition, we will be able to provide high-level leadership and advice to stimulate international cooperation and promote policies, initiatives and trade actions in favor of climate-resilient economies. Time is running out if we are to tackle the devastating effects of climate change on people and economies around the world.
Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President in charge of Trade – 01/19/2023
Additional Actions
The next ministerial meeting will take place on the sidelines of the next WTO ministerial conference, scheduled for early 2024.
The context
The Climate Coalition was officially launched at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 19, 2022. It aims to identify how trade and trade policy can offer positive solutions to the current climate crisis. It will be a forum for high-level political dialogue supporting international cooperation on climate, trade and sustainable development.
More information
