Despite some limitations, trade can play a pivotal role in helping countries address the challenges of climate change and promote a sustainable future.
The most critical thing is to devise strategies and ways to "make trade an enabler of a better climate policy", according to WTO stakeholders.
And it must be "not only at the multilateral level, but also in initiatives that can be taken at the regional or country level as well", they said.
In this connection, pushing the role of trade in the upcoming global climate change conference of the United Nations, better known as COP28, is also critical.
These are the broader observations reflected in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Public Forum 2023, which concluded in the Swiss city of Geneva on Friday.
The largest outreach event of the WTO started on September 12 at the multilateral trade body's secretariat in Geneva.
The four-day event discussed, debated and analysed how trade can contribute to a greener and more sustainable future under the theme 'It's time for action'.
At a media briefing on the second day of the forum, WTO Director-General (DG) Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said despite many obstacles, at the end of the day, trade resilience has been proven in various developments.
"There were disappointments and frustrations before the 12th ministerial conference (MC12) of the organisation," she said. "But the successful conclusion of the conference showed that WTO can deliver, the multilateral trading system can deliver."
The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies adopted at the MC12 last year was a big success, mentioned Dr Ngozi.
"The agreement is a significant step forward for ocean sustainability as it prohibits harmful fisheries subsidies, which are a key factor in the widespread depletion of the world's fish stocks."
The DG also urged all the member countries to deposit their 'instruments of acceptance' with the WTO as early as possible so that the agreement could be effective.
"Our oceans are 50 per cent overfished already… The longer we wait, the more overfishing there is," she pointed out.
So far, 44 TWO members have ratified the deal while it requires two-thirds of 164 members or at least 110 ratifications to make it effective.
No country from South Asia, including Bangladesh, is yet to ratify this deal, which is the first WTO accord to focus on the environment as well as climate.
The WTO DG cited that there are various tools in the multilateral trade organisations and those can be used to help achieving the net zero emissions by 2050.
She said the government procurement agreement, a plurilateral deal, may be applied to drive green procurement by setting necessary criteria.
The size of the government procurement is currently 13 per cent of global GDP (or worth $13 trillion).
Again, the agreement can push countries to digitalise trade or paperless trade, which may contribute to cutting carbon footprint by over 60 per cent.
Talking to a high-level panel discussion, Dr Ngozi said a range of policy instruments would be needed to speed up decarbonisation in steel and other industries.
"The growing fragmentation of trade policies is making it harder for the steel sector to decarbonise, creating uncertainties for producers and hampering the cross-border movement of green technologies and inputs."
In this case, according to her, the WTO can play an important role as a forum for international cooperation between private and public stakeholders to better align and coordinate trade policy for a level-playing field.
Various government, international organisations and non-governmental entities have hosted sessions in this year's public forum, which was attended by some 2,000 representatives from civil society, academia, business, government, international organisations and media.
Some participants opined that one potential goal to be set at COP28 in Dubai this November is tripling renewable energy production by 2030.
To achieve this goal, they called for WTO members to step up efforts reaching an agreement on environmental goods and services.
As transport is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions, transforming modes of transport is also stressed by some discussants.
A holistic approach in addressing climate challenges was also in focus when considering the entire ecosystem and assessing the impact of green technologies on different groups of people.
According to many, open trade will contribute to developing green economy in the long term.
The 'World Trade Report 2023: Re-Globalisation for a Secure, Inclusive and Sustainable Future' also sheds light on the importance of trade to address the climate change issue.
"Open global trade is indispensable for getting to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions: both to diffuse green goods and services around the world, and enable increased scale and competition that encourages innovation and drives down costs of decarbonisation."
Released on the first day of the forum, the report also cited that the benefits of coordinated global climate mitigation policies by means of a global CO2 market could result in gains as high as $106 billion in 2030.
It is measured as the difference between the cost of CO2 mitigation under a global carbon permit market and the cost of regional reductions in emissions under nationally determined contribution.
In reply to a query, a senior WTO official told the FE that there was no formal concluding session of the public forum.
"As it's a semi-formal conference with many sessions, there is no scope for formal conclusion," he added. "Everything of the event is open to all."
On the sidelines of the sessions were mini exhibitions of products and services on the WTO premises.
There were also interactive social media events like trade game, which drew attention of many participants.
The Public Forum, previously known as the Public Symposium, was first held in 2001 focusing on issues confronting the world trading system.
In 2006, the annual event was renamed as Public Forum.
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