Transitioning to the Circular Economy: The role of Trade and Investment Policies

The International Trade Centre (ITC) is hosting a webinar on ‘Transitioning to the Circular Economy: The role of Trade and Investment Policies’ on Wednesday, 13 July from 10 – 11.30am CET.

Register on https://intracen.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Qe7D29BLQ9eNVaYRle7Vow to receive the link to participate in the webinar.

The gradual shift towards a green economy has important implications for industrial policy in developing countries. Integrating climate change considerations will be a prerequisite for countries to strengthen competitiveness in decades to come, and leverage opportunities that arise in emerging green industries. Governments are increasingly reviewing avenues through which to integrate green considerations into the industrial policy framework – including through greening existing industries, and accelerating growth and development in green products, services, and technologies.

Circular economy principles are integral to policy measures relating to greening. The scope of the circular economy has evolved considerably over time from its initial focus on minimizing waste generation to a wider approach on making resource use more sustainable through enhanced resource efficiency, and increased demand for related products and services such as recycling, refurbishing, and remanufacturing. With increasing dependency on global value chains, the gradual uptake of circular economy principles will have an impact on trade patterns. Impacts can include reduced trade in primary raw materials, increased trade in secondary materials, increased trade in waste for recycling and second-hand goods, as well as increased trade in products and services in emerging sectors such as waste management and refurbishment.

Forward looking industrial policies, accordingly, must be attuned with such predicted shifts in trade flows; and trade and investment policies need to be aligned to enable exporters to adapt to and leverage opportunities arising from the circular economy. Already efforts are underway at the regional levels to build in circular economy principles, such as through the European Union’s Circular Economy Action Plan, the ASEAN Framework for Circular Economy, and the African Circular Economy Alliance; as well as efforts at the national level. Developing countries, however, may lack the technical, financial, and human capacity to effectively implement national plans and policies related to the circular economy and/or translate circular economy principles signed onto at the regional/global level into their national policy frameworks including on trade.

This webinar will unpack how trade-related policy options and strategies can be effectively leveraged by developing countries to adopt and implement more circularity in their policy frameworks; and assess the constraints/challenges faced by developing countries in facilitating the required policy frameworks and effectively employing circular economy principles to set the foundation for more targeted dialogues and engagements to support developing countries embarking on these crucial reforms.

For further information on this webinar, please refer to the attached Concept Note and Agenda.