The FINANCIAL -- The WTO is participating in the Durban Climate Change Conference taking place from 28 November to 9 December 2011.
One of the topics being discussed at the conference is how trade intersects with climate change in various ways and how it can help mitigate and adapt to climate change by increasing trade opening for “climate-friendly” goods and facilitating access to key mitigation and adaptation technologies.
On 5 and 6 December 2011, WTO experts are speaking at the Trade and Climate Change Symposium, organized jointly by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, the WTO and the South African Department of Trade and Industry, in Durban, South Africa. An opening address was delivered by WTO Deputy Director-General Harsha V. Singh.
At one of the sessions, key climate experts and WTO representatives will discuss the array of regulations that governments are already implementing to mitigate climate change and the measures they are considering developing, i.e. measures ranging from carbon labelling to unilateral trade measures as well as financial support mechanisms. The session will also address the WTO’s role in promoting the mutual supportiveness of trade and climate change.
Another session will discuss innovation incentives and how to encourage the promotion and adoption of climate-friendly technologies. This will cover the role of intellectual property in general, the work of the World Intellectual Property Organization to support access to its global technology databases and capacity building to support innovation and technology transfer, and the adequacy of provisions in the Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement for achieving these objectives.
The WTO is also organizing on 8 December 2011 a seminar at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on linkages between green economy measures, trade and climate change. The event will explore the extent to which green economy measures in various sectors can make a positive contribution to climate change mitigation and their impact on trade.
These sessions will gather key thinkers and decision-makers, and will address the challenges facing the trade and climate change governance systems. Speakers will explore synergies between trade policies and climate change action, and focus on identifying constructive and innovative solutions.
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