CSE and African Hub Warn Trade-Climate Nexus Risks Deepening Global Inequity

A new policy brief by the Centre for Science and Environment and the African Future Policies Hub warns that the emerging intersection of trade policy and climate measures risks deepening inequities for Global South nations unless their development priorities are explicitly protected. Developing countries face barriers to participating in the new green economy due to commodity dependence and limited industrial capacity.

The Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi and the African Future Policies Hub have jointly released a policy brief examining how the convergence of trade rules and climate measures — including carbon border adjustments, green subsidy regimes and clean product standards — could disproportionately disadvantage developing economies. The brief argues that countries in the Global South, which are primarily exporters of commodities rather than manufactured goods, face structural barriers to participating competitively in the emerging low-carbon economy.

New trade-related climate measures being introduced by the European Union and other developed economies, including the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, may restrict market access for developing country exports while providing little support for the industrial transformation required to meet new standards. The brief calls for an equitable trade-climate agenda that preserves policy space for developing countries to pursue green industrialisation pathways tailored to their economic structures, rather than requiring compliance with frameworks designed by and for advanced economies.

The brief was released ahead of MC14, the fourteenth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization, at which trade-climate linkages are expected to be a major agenda item. CSE and the African Future Policies Hub call for a formal WTO work programme on climate and trade that centres development justice and provides legal protection for green industrial policies in developing nations. The brief is intended to equip negotiators from India, Africa and other Global South blocs with analytical frameworks for advocacy in multilateral settings.

Key figure — MC14 — WTO Ministerial Conference where trade-climate equity issues are a central agenda item