An Equitable Trade-Climate Agenda

March 20, 2026

As trade and climate agendas increasingly converge, their interaction will reshape patterns of production, competitiveness, and development. This agenda-setting brief by the Centre for Science and Environment and the African Future Policies Hub highlights that the emerging trade-climate nexus risks deepening global inequities unless the Global South’s development concerns are prioritised. Developing countries, constrained by commodity dependence and limited industrial capacity, face barriers to participating in the new, green economy. New trade-related climate measures may further restrict their competitiveness and policy space. This brief calls for an equitable trade-climate agenda that safeguards policy space, supports green industrialisation, and enables a just, development-centred low-carbon transition for the Global South.

Contact:

Trishant Dev
trishant.dev@cseindia.org

Shimukunku Manchishi
shimukunku@africanfuturepolicieshub.org