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Changing the Narrative - Trade is Part of the Solution to Climate Change

September 29, 2021

Online

MULTIMEDIA

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Join us for the launch of the report, The Trade and Climate Change Nexus: The Urgency and Opportunities for Developing Countries in which we discuss climate change and future trade opportunities in developing countries. For more information on the Trade & Climate Change work-program visit: TRADE & CLIMATE CHANGE.

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  • Climate discussions often focus on trade as a contributor to global warming. But with the right policies to encourage cleaner production and trade in climate-friendly goods and services, it can be part of the solution.  Join us for a discussion on expanding this positive role in facilitating climate change mitigation and adaptation. Panelists will discuss how policymakers from low- and middle-income countries can help shape trade to address climate change policy, including potential areas for collaboration and partnerships, as well as ideas for capacity-building and technical assistance.

    Agenda

    Introduction by Chair: Mona Haddad, Global Director, Trade and Regional Integration, World Bank

    Mari E. Pangestu, Managing Director, World Bank

    Opening Remarks: The importance of examining the trade and climate change nexus

    Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the WTO

    Opening Remarks: The role of the global community

    Report presentation by Authors:

    • Paul Brenton, Lead Economist in the Trade and Regional Integration Unit of the World Bank
    • Vicky Chemutai, Young Professional with the Trade and Regional Integration Unit of the World Bank

    Brief remarks by Discussant Moderator: Aik Hoe Lim, Director, Trade and Environment, WTO

    H.E Chad Blackman, Ambassador and PR of Barbados to the UN and other IOs in Geneva/ Former Chair of the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment

    The policy-maker perspective

    Toby Hammond, Managing Director, Futurepump

    The private sector perspective

    Carolyn Birkbeck, Director, Forum on Trade, Environment & the SDGs (TESS) and Senior Researcher, Global Governance Centre, The Graduate Institute Geneva

    The academic perspective

  • Mari Pangestu is the World Bank Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships. In this role, which she assumed on March 1, 2020, Ms. Pangestu provides leadership and oversees the research and data group of the World Bank (DEC), the work program of the World Bank’s Global Practice Groups, and the External and Corporate Relations function. Ms. Pangestu joins the Bank with exceptional policy and management expertise, having served as Indonesia’s Minister of Trade from 2004 to 2011 and as Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy from 2011 to 2014. She has had vast experience of over 30 years in academia, second track processes, international organizations and government working in areas related to international trade, investment and development in multilateral, regional and national settings.  

    Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the Director General of the World Trade Organization. She is a global finance expert, an economist and international development professional with over 30 years of experience working in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America. Dr Okonjo-Iweala was formerly Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Since its creation in 2000, Gavi has immunized 760 million children globally and saved thirteen million lives. She was previously on the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc. She was recently appointed as African Union (AU) Special Envoy to mobilise international financial support for the fight against COVID-19 and WHO Special Envoy for Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator. Previously, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala twice served as Nigeria's Finance Minister (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and briefly acted as Foreign Minister in 2006, the first woman to hold both positions.  

    Aik Hoe Lim is the Director of Trade and Environment Division at the World Trade Organization (WTO). He is responsible for the organization’s work on trade and environment, as well as on the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. Prior to that, Aik Hoe was a Counsellor in the Trade in Services Division and Secretary to the Working Group on Domestic Regulation. He has served as Counsellor to two consecutive WTO Director-Generals (2001-2005) and was also Adviser to the Director General’s Consultative Group on “The Future of the WTO.”

    H. E. Chad Blackman is the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, as well as a former Chair for the Trade and Environment Committee in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Ambassador Blackman has worked in the international development sector for over fifteen years and has engaged as an international trade law specialist and development consultant respectively.  Prior to his tenure in Geneva, he was Legal Consultant and Partner in a Caribbean Law Firm, where he led on issues of international trade, shipping and data protection laws.  

    Dr. Carolyn Deere Birkbeck is the Director, Forum on Trade, Environment & the SDGs (TESS) and Senior Researcher, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. As Director of TESS which is held in partnership with UNEP's Environment and Trade Hub, the Geneva Trade Platform, and the Global Governance Centre, she works to foster strategic international policy dialogue and action at the intersection of environmental sustainability, trade and the SDGs. She is also a senior research associate in the Global Economic Governance Programme at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.  

    Toby Hammond is the Managing Director of Futurepump. Futurepump manufactures a revolutionary new solar irrigation device for smallholder farmers in the tropics. Manufactured in India, these robust and portable solar pumps are distributed in 20+ countries across Africa and Asia. Originally an ecologist, Toby has experience of low-cost manufacturing within the renewables industry, establishing new companies and building distribution networks. 

    Mona Haddad is the Global Director for Trade, Investment and Competitiveness in the Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions Practice Group (EFI) Vice Presidency. Ms. Haddad, a Lebanese national, joined the Bank in 1992 as a Young Professional. She has since held various positions in both the IBRD and IFC, her most recent assignment being Director of the Country Economics and Engagement department at IFC, where she led the development of the joint WBG Country Private Sector Diagnostics.  

    Authors: 

    Paul Brenton is lead economist in the Trade and Regional Integration Unit of the World Bank. He focuses on analytical, and operations work on trade and regional integration. He has led the implementation of World Bank lending operations such as the Great Lakes Trade Facilitation Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda. He joined the World Bank in 2002, having previously served as senior research fellow and head of the Trade Policy Unit at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. A collection of his work has been published in the volume, International Trade, Distribution, and Development: Empirical Studies of Trade Policies. You can find more research and policy papers here. 

    Vicky Chemutai is a Young Professional with the Trade and Regional Integration Unit of the World Bank. Her interests include analyzing the dynamics of international trade and its interactions with global issues—among others, climate and gender concerns. She has developmental experience spanning (1) the public sector in several Ugandan government agencies (health, social security, and the central bank); (2) the private sector as founder of several small-scale entrepreneurial ventures; and (3) the international development sector, focusing on trade policy formulation and implementation, formerly at the World Trade Organization and presently at the World Bank Group. She has been an adjunct lecturer at the International University in Geneva in the fields of trade and statistics.

Event Details

  • Date: Sept. 29, 2021
  • Newsletter: Trade Matters
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