On 5 December 2011, tralac, in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), participated in the Durban Trade and Climate Change Symposium organised by the ICTSD, World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Department of Trade and Industry of South Africa (DTI) at the Southern Sun North Beach Hotel in Durban.

The two-day symposium took place in parallel to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP 17/CMP 7 in Durban, South Africa, with the aim being to generate proposals for fostering multilateral regimes on trade and climate change and promote the transition to a low-carbon economy and sustainable energy.

The broad topics for the Symposium responded to the principal issues at the nexus of trade policy, market approaches and climate change:

• market mechanisms such as emission trading schemes and sectoral market mechanisms;

• carbon leakage and competitiveness; intellectual property and technology transfer;

• climate-friendly goods and services;

• agriculture;

• biofuels;

• financing mechanisms;

• the linkages between trade, poverty and climate change;

• fossil fuels subsidies;

• transportation and bunker fuels;

• emerging economies;

• investment;

• standards;

• fisheries; 

• energy; and

• natural resources.

tralac presented at the first session on Trade and Regional Integration Issues with Special Focus on Southern Africa and Trade in Environmental Products.

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