Summary:

• To achieve global climate goals and build a more resilient economy, the rules and institutions of global economic governance must align around a green transition.
• This report describes a package of 11 ideas for reforms across the global trade and investment regimes, broadly understood, that can remove barriers to, and create drivers for, climate action. Some are mature efforts already in progress; others are new areas of work that require more research and strategising.
• The package elements fall into three categories: steps that can be taken within existing structures, options that pioneering governments can advance unilaterally or in small groups, and broader reforms of governance arrangements.
• This package of ideas is not exhaustive. Many other potential avenues and proposals are being explored elsewhere in scholarly and policy debate. Some proposals are not mentioned here as they already attract considerable attention and focus from a diversity of stakeholders and some governments.
• Whilst ensuring that economic responses to COVID-19 are climate friendly remains of immediate and paramount importance, we must not lose sight of the direction of travel needed over a more extended time horizon. With this in mind, these reforms target outcomes that could feasibly be delivered over the next 12–36 months.

About this report

This report emerges from a series of workshops and consultations held in February, July and October 2020 under the Future of Climate Cooperation project, a joint initiative of Mission 2020, the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, and the ClimateWorks Foundation. These convenings brought together a wide range of experts and policymakers from the trade, investment and climate communities. The report brings together expertise from different perspectives. Not all authors endorse all of the proposed options, but they do agree that these reflect a fair summary of key proposals that emerged through the consultation process.