Trade plays a central role in plastic pollution and in the global plastics economy. Amid impressive and multiplying efforts across the globe to address plastic pollution, however, the relevance of trade to the production, consumption and disposal of plastics has been underestimated. At the same time, the important ways that cooperation on trade and trade policies could support global efforts to reduce plastic pollution are yet to attract the focused attention they deserve. The WTO – the core multilateral forum for cooperation on trade – has a vital role to play in supporting greater understanding, dialogue and action on the trade-related aspects of tackling plastics pollution. It is a uniquely positioned forum through which Member States could work together to support and complement inter-governmental efforts to reduce plastic pollution, including at the UN Environment Assembly and the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes. To view the full article visit the World Economic Forum.
