The report forecasts global economic growth to 2.6% in 2024, barely above the 2.5% threshold commonly associated with a recessionary phase. The report says the prevailing focus on inflation overshadows urgent issues like trade disruptions, climate change and rising inequalities. It advocates for structural reforms and coordinated global efforts, proposing …
Solar photovoltaics (PV) has become a mainstay of low-carbon sustainable energy strategies, with the cost of electricity generated by PV plants declining by 77% between 2010 and 2018. Trade and the globalisation of the solar PV market have been major factors driving the decrease in technology prices as manufacturers are …
While there are many ways can help lessen the climate impact of transport, one key priority is to manage motorization more effectively. In developing countries, the number of vehicles on the road is expected to double in the next 15-20 years, and much of that growth will come from used …
The Bhutan Development Update (BDU) is published annually. It assesses recent economic and social developments, prospects, and policies in Bhutan. The BDU also provides an in-depth analysis of selected economic and policy issues. In this edition, the special section focuses on e-trade, outlining opportunities and challenges in harnessing digital trade …
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Making Finance Work for Africa Partnership (MFW4A) released on 15 April 2021 the African Trade Finance Survey Report which provides a better understanding of the trade finance landscape across …
The African agricultural and food market is expanding quickly as indicated by World Bank projections that show that the value of Africa’s agriculture and agribusiness industry is expected to more than triple to reach USD 1 trillion by 2030, compared to 2010 (World Bank, 2013). This provides an opportunity to …
This report explores ways in which trade policy can further support a transition to a more circular economy using regional trade agreements (RTAs) as a vehicle. In doing so, it suggests possible options to incorporate circular economy-related provisions in future RTAs, building on precedents with similar objectives in agreements currently …
This report examines how trade policy can help governments anticipate and respond to food system shocks while avoiding harm to producers and consumers in other countries. It also makes the case that major importing and exporting nations have a particular responsibility to help safeguard the stability of global food markets.
Open global trade has had positive effects for African industrialization and development. This report looks at efforts to help African countries strengthen their trading capacity and take fuller advantage of the benefits that trade brings. The report looks into the effects of COVID-19 on Africa, the latest trends in African …
This edition of UNCTAD's Trade and Environment Review examines the physical impacts of climate change and their effects on developing country economies and trade; the vulnerabilities of developing countries to climate change; costs and finance for climate change adaptation; and finally, ways that developing countries can enhance their trade-climate readiness, …
In 2018 alone, over 3.5million hectares of land were harvested for tobacco. Tobacco growing is destroying our environment and threatening our health. As regulations tighten in middle- and high- income countries, tobacco companies are increasingly targeting African countries to scale-up tobacco leaf production. In Africa, tobacco crop yields increased by …
This report analyses the impacts that changes in trade structures, economic growth and technology have had on the greenhouse gas emissions (GhG) generated in the continent. It sets out climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in the context of Africa’s economic transformation and development. In this sense, it aims to …
The past four years have been chaotic for US agriculture. Trade wars, initiated by the Donald Trump administration in 2017, and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic have led to volatile domestic and international market conditions and considerable uncertainty about future prices and farm businesses’ financial situations. In response to lower prices …
On behalf of the German Environment Agency, a research project with the title “Impact CHAIN: the impacts of global climate change on the economy and society in Germany” was commissioned to examine the potential impacts of global climate change on the German economy through foreign trade flows. The results of …
Since the last session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development four years ago, fractures and fault lines have deepened across the world economy, compromising the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. These fractures include widening inequalities that have fuelled popular discontent with globalization, deepening digital divides and …
A growing number of governments have adopted policies aimed at promoting innovation and technological progress for their economies, a trend which has implications for trade flows and the rules that govern global commerce, according to the 2020 edition of the WTO’s World Trade Report. The flagship publication maps out the …
The pandemic has redefined the world economy in ways that will deepen inequality and can only be reversed if a global transformation in attitudes towards trade and development allows the whole world to recover together, the UN trade body UNCTAD said, in a report. The report, Impact of the Pandemic …
The Review of Maritime Transport 2020 provides an update on the latest trends in maritime trade, supply, markets, key performance indicators, and legal and regulatory developments. It also includes a special chapter with testimonials from maritime stakeholders and their experiences in coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has …
Global trade in food products has proven remarkably resilient during the pandemic, with developing countries even managing to increase export revenues, according to a new report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Data available through June "suggest strong, albeit not complete, resilience of the …
This paper outlines food security’s impact across areas such as natural resources, trade, violent conflict and climate change, and its implications for achieving SDG 2: Zero Hunger. It also seeks to give geopolitics a more prominent place in the food security debate. Assessing the prospects for Zero Hunger—Sustainable Development Goal …
International trade of food and agricultural products plays a major role in ensuring food security and livelihoods across the African continent. Yet formal intracontinental trade data give only a glimpse of trade’s importance for African consumers and producers because—depending on the country and bor-der—up to 99 percent of agricultural trade …
