ADB urges governments to revise trade policies to meet sustainability goals
By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Reporter
GOVERNMENTS must revise their trade policies based on environmentally conscious efforts to reduce carbon emissions and other adverse impacts that speed up climate change, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Thursday.
“Trade can be a force of technology diffusion of green technologies. And by reducing or removing subsidies, on carbon products, we can also encourage the flows of greener products,” ADB senior economist Neil Foster-McGregor said in a webinar.
The Philippines has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2030. It is also a signatory to the Paris Agreement, which requires countries to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
“Through lowering tariffs and non-tariff barriers on clean products, we can encourage trade in these green and clean products,” said Mr. Foster-McGregor.
Government must also issue regulations and standards on “dirtier” products to limit their trade.
Mr. Foster-McGregor noted that policies still generally encourage carbon intensive trade.
“Tariffs and non-tariff barriers tend to be lower on carbon intensive goods, particularly those goods that are upstream in value chains, so sort of those involving extraction, for example,” he said at the webinar.
“But things may be changing. And we also highlight in the report that trade policies are being increasingly used by countries in their decarbonization plans,” he added.
In its “Asian Economic Integration Report 2024: Decarbonizing Global Value Chains,” the ADB said that Asian economies are “contributing substantially” to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
Earlier, it urged developing Asia to push for carbon pricing schemes to lessen carbon emissions.
In developing Asia, carbon dioxide emissions increased by 114% between 1995 and 2018.
Last year, the ADB approved $3.5 billion worth of loans to invest in 14 projects in the Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).
