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Trade in Transforming Our WorldOptions for follow-up and review of the trade-related elements of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable DevelopmentBox 1: Selected examples of possible indicators, sources of information, and review mechanisms*Trade-related elementsPotential indicators and sourcesPotential review mechanismsCluster 1: Subsidies and commodities tradeAgricultural distortionsAgricultural subsidy levelsWTO and OECD agriculture committeesFossil fuel subsidiesIEA, OECD, IMF dataOECD, IEA country reviews, G20,UNFCCC, TPRMFisheries subsidiesWTO notifications, OECD dataWTO SCM committee and OECDFisheries committeeCluster 2: Access to water, energy, medicinesTRIPS flexibilitiesUse of TRIPS flexibilities for healthWTO TRIPS CouncilWater technologyTrade in related goods and services WTO CTE, APEC Committee on Tradeand InvestmentClean energy technologyTrade in related goods and services OECD, IEA Environment, Energy countryreviews, WTO Committee on Trade andEnvironmentCluster 3: Economic diversification, global value chains, trade finance, and facilitationEconomic diversificationLDCs’ export diversificationWTO TPRMRegional infrastructure, tradefacilitationWTO Trade Facilitation Agreementratifications, implementationWTO Trade Facilitation CommitteeAccess to trade finance, participationin GVCsDraw on work by WTO, regionaldevelopment banks, BIS WTOOECD TiVA databaseWTO Working Group on Trade, Debt andFinance OECD Trade CommitteeEnvironmental technologies forindustryTrade, tariffs on environmentallysound technologiesWTO CTE, TPRM APEC Committee onTrade and InvestmentTransparent, sustainable governmentprocurementMembership of WTO GovernmentProcurement AgreementWTO Committee on GovernmentProcurement, TPRMCluster 4: Illegal extraction and trade in natural resources, trade in hazardous chemicals and wasteEnvironmentally sound management ofwastesUNEP Global Chemicals OutlookBasel Convention Implementation andCompliance Committee, UNEPAccess and benefit-sharing regardinggenetic resourcesPermits submitted to Access andBenefit-Sharing Clearing-HouseConvention on Biological DiversityPoaching, trafficking of wildlifeProportion of traded wildlife thatwas poached, traffickedIUCN World Conservation Congress,CITES, WTO Committee on Trade andEnvironmentIncrease Aid for TradeWTO, OECD Aid for Trade dataGlobal Aid for Trade ReviewImplement S&D in WTOWTO Annual ReportWTO S&D Monitoring MechanismStrengthen multilateral trading systemWTO Bali, Nairobi packagesimplementationWTO General Council, TPRM, TradeNegotiations CommitteeIncrease developing country exportsDeveloping country, LDC exportsAverage tariffs faced by LDCsWTO CTD Sub-Committee on LDCsUNCTAD Trade and DevelopmentCommissionCluster 5: Multilateral trading systemCluster 6: Policy coherence for sustainable developmentStrengthen regional trade agreementsADB regional economic integrationindicatorUN Regional Commissions WTOCommittee on Regional TradeAgreementsPolicy space, investment agreementssafeguardsUNCTAD World InvestmentReportsUNCTAD Trade and DevelopmentCommission* This table provides extracts from the more extensive material found in the Annex.IISD.orgv

Trade in Transforming Our WorldOptions for follow-up and review of the trade-related elements of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable DevelopmentTable of ContentsIntroduction.1Follow-up and review of trade in the 2030 Agenda . 21.0 Principles for Thinking about the Review Mechanism.42.0 Design Options for a Three-Level Review Process.73.0 Mapping the Trade-Related Elements of the 2030 Agenda.94.0 Mapping Trade-Related Review Mechanisms. 14References.20Annex: Review mechanisms for trade-related elements of the 2030 Agenda. 23IISD.orgvi

Trade in Transforming Our WorldOptions for follow-up and review of the trade-related elements of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable DevelopmentAbbreviationsAAAAAddis Ababa Action AgendaADBAsian Development BankIUUillegal, unreported and unregulated(fishing)AfDBAfrican Development BankLDCsleast developed countriesAg-IMSWTO Agriculture InformationManagement SystemLLDCslandlocked developing countriesMDBmultilateral development bankAPECMFNmost favoured nationASEANAssociation of Southeast AsianNationsMoImeans of implementationMTSmultilateral trading systemBISBank for International SettlementsNGOnon-governmental organisationCITESConvention on International Tradein Endangered Species of WildFauna and FloraOECDOrganisation for EconomicCo-operation and DevelopmentRTAregional trade agreementS&Dspecial and differential treatmentAsia-Pacific Economic CooperationCPIACountry Policy and InstitutionalAssessmentCRTAWTO Committee on RegionalTrade AgreementsSADCSouthern African DevelopmentCommunityCTDWTO Committee on Trade andDevelopmentSDGsSustainable Development GoalsSIDSsmall island developing statesCTEWTO Committee on Trade andEnvironmentSMEsmall and medium-sized enterpriseDDAWTO Doha Development AgendaTFAWTO Agreement on TradeFacilitationDFQFDuty-Free Quota-FreeTiVAOECD-WTO Trade in Value AddedECLACEconomic Commission for LatinAmerica and the CaribbeanTPPTrans-Pacific Partnership agreementTPRWTO Trade Policy ReviewEIFEnhanced Integrated FrameworkTPRBWTO Trade Policy Review BodyFAOFood and Agriculture Organizationof the United NationsTPRMWTO Trade Policy ReviewMechanismG20Group of 20GVCsglobal value chainsTRIPSWTO Agreement on Trade-RelatedAspects of Intellectual PropertyRightsHLPFHigh-Level Political Forum onsustainable developmentUNUnited NationsICTSDInternational Centre for Trade andSustainable DevelopmentUNCTADUnited Nations Conference on Tradeand DevelopmentIAEG-SDGsInter-Agency and Expert Groupon SDG IndicatorsUNECEIEAInternational Energy AgencyIFIinternational financial institutionUNEPUnited Nations EnvironmentProgrammeIIAsInternational investment agreementsIISDInternational Institute for SustainableDevelopmentIMFInternational Monetary FundIPintellectual propertyIPOAIstanbul Plan of ActionITCInternational Trade CentreUnited Nations EconomicCommission for EuropeUNFCCCUN Framework Convention onClimate ChangeVNRVoluntary National ReviewWHOWorld Health OrganizationWIPOWorld Intellectual PropertyOrganizationWTOWorld Trade OrganizationIUCNInternational Union for Conservationof NatureIISD.orgvii

Trade in Transforming Our WorldOptions for follow-up and review of the trade-related elements of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable DevelopmentIntroductionTrade and carefully designed trade policy can makea crucial contribution to supporting and integratingthe three dimensions of sustainable development– economic, social, and environmental – thatmake up the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda forSustainable Development (“the 2030 Agenda”).Trade-related elements perfuse both pillars of the2030 Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) in Transforming our world: the 2030 Agendafor sustainable development (United Nations, 2015a),and the outcome document of the third Financingfor Development (FfD) conference, the Addis AbabaAction Agenda (AAAA).1 Trade-related targets areincluded in at least 12 of the SDGs. Some are goalspecific, but others see trade as a cross-cutting “meansof implementation” (MoI) relevant to the achievementof every goal. In order to realise this potential, tradeand other policies must reinforce each other and notwork at cross-purposes.This approach of integrating trade across thedevelopment agenda framework makes sense: itreflects the fact that trade has to be part of a coherentpolicy framework for sustainable development. Buttrade experts see imperfections in the 2030 Agenda.The SDGs focus on expanding exports, not obtaininghigh quality imports. Although they recognise, if onlyimplicitly, the importance of maintaining an opentrade regime that would allow domestic firms accessto low-cost inputs, they do not explicitly address thecentrality of services in accessing global value chains(GVCs). The SDGs also devote insufficient explicitattention to things like trade costs that are importantfor participation in GVCs (Hoekman, 2015). The2030 Agenda does recognise that with a universal,rules-based, open, non-discriminatory, and equitablemultilateral trading system, as well as meaningfultrade liberalisation (in the words of the AAAA, para.79), trade can serve as an engine of economic growth,not least by encouraging long-term private andpublic investment in productive capacities. Trade cancontribute to reducing poverty, the objective of1The UNGA resolution establishing 2030 Agenda incorporates the AAAA asan “integral part” of the 2030 Agenda (United Nations, 2015a, para. 40).This paper therefore looks at both the SDGs and the AAAA in its analysis ofthe trade-related elements of the 2030 Agenda.SDG 1, and promoting sustainable development.2According to the AAAA, with appropriate supportingpolicies, infrastructure, and an educated workforce,trade can promote employment, decent work, andwomen’s empowerment, reduce inequality, andcontribute to the realisation of the SDGs. Trade cantherefore contribute to the 2030 Agenda’s overallobjective of “transforming our world,” advancing bothhuman development and environmental protection.These aspirations may be feasible, in theory, butensuring that trade makes this contribution tosustainable development will take a concerted effortby many ministries within national governments,along with international organisations, civil society,and the private sector. It will require a coherentpolicy framework both to ensure businesses cantake advantage of trade opportunities and also tomanage the social and economic adjustments thatcan result from the competitive pressures of trade andthe environmental impacts of changes in economicactivity. Follow-up and review of the trade-relatedelements of the agenda is thus essential: the SDGsin themselves, and the trade-related elements, willnot cause anything to change, let alone ensure policycoherence, but the review process might.The contribution of trade to the 2030 Agendais pervasive but diffuse, as shown in the Annex,which means follow-up and review will be achallenge. Unlike many aspects of the 2030 Agenda,international trade is covered by numerous bilateral,regional, and multilateral agreements, which havetheir own review mechanisms.3 Our first aim withthis paper is to map where trade-related elementsare found in the SDGs and AAAA, and where it canbe reviewed. The analysis does not pretend to beexhaustive, but to provide a starting point for furtherdiscussion. Even a brief overview of where trade fits,in Box 1 above, shows the scope of the challenge.Although SDG 1 on ending poverty in all its forms does not contain explicittrade-related commitments, (with the possible exception of references tobasic services, discussed below) many of the targets and indicators includedin our analysis, such as the removal of distortions in agricultural markets orthe reduction of trade costs, could contribute to the objectives of this keySDG.3On the complexity of the global trade and investment architecture and itsrelationship to other institutions of global governance, including the 2030Agenda, see Deere Birkbeck and Botwright (2015).2IISD.org1

Trade in Transforming Our WorldOptions for follow-up and review of the trade-related elements of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable DevelopmentFOLLOW-UP AND REVIEW OF TRADE INTHE 2030 AGENDAMechanisms for reviewing progress will be essential tothe interconnected challenges of achieving the 2030Agenda commitments. Having articulated the goals,states have to decide on whose agenda they shouldbe placed. Follow-up mechanisms will enable theworld to understand how things are working so thatprogramme adjustments can be made. Review will alsoallow states to learn from the experience of others;and shed light on whether states are individually andcollectively on track to meet their objectives.Achieving the 2030 Agenda will require coherentsystemic support, but most of the needed actionon sustainable development is national, even local.In this sense, the new accountability paradigm isbottom-up not top-down. The great achievement ofthe 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change is thatgovernments agreed to provide information on whatthey are doing on climate change, and to allow publicscrutiny of such action as well as collective review.The Paris Agreement requires governments to notifytheir nationally determined contributions (NDCs) tothe UNFCCC Secretariat, along with the steps beingtaken to implement those NDCs. These notificationprocesses provide an incentive for governments to actto fulfil the expectations created by the notification.Success will require robust surveillance of thesenotifications at the international level. This type ofreporting is about effort not outcomes, but a reviewprocess should also ask if objectives are being metand how to identify necessary follow-up. Follow-upand review of the 2030 Agenda requires comparingwhat we have achieved when measured against ourinitial aspirations and comparing ourselves to ourpeers. Review should ask if we are meeting our owngoals? Are we doing as well as similarly situatedcommunities or countries? Are we trying as hard aswe can? What can we learn from the achievements ofothers, and what can we learn from how others seeus? Are we collectively doing enough to support eachother in these efforts? What systemic follow-up isneeded and from whom? These are the questions thatcountries, and the international community, shouldask themselves.The purpose of review mechanisms is, thus, to allowconsideration of whether national law, policy, andimplementation are consistent with each state’saspirations for achieving the SDGs. But the 2030Agenda is also a universal agenda, in at least twosenses: the goals address all countries, at all levels ofdevelopment, and in many cases will require collectiveefforts to solve trans-boundary problems (like illegaltrade). Regional and global as well as national reviewwill be needed, therefore, because what happensin one part of the world has effects in others, andbecause of the interrelated effects and trade-offsamong the goals. Global review is also needed becausecountries in different regions or at the same level ofdevelopment may face similar challenges and, hence,have lessons to share.The 2030 Agenda is complex with many moving parts– 17 SDGs, dozens of targets, hundreds of indicatorsmonitored by dozens of international organisations,and hundreds of think tanks and NGOs. The mostimportant place to review implementation of theSDGs will be at the national level, and it will alreadybe a challenge to facilitate engagement by a rangeof actors at this level. Regional reviews will allowcomparison of similar countries, taking advantageof existing review mechanisms. The task of the newUN (United Nations) High-Level Political Forum(HLPF) on sustainable development, therefore, isto identify obstacles to implementation of the 2030Agenda and find ways to deal with them. Its roleinvolves orchestration, (Abbott and Bernstein, 2015),providing incentives and a framework for everyoneto participate, coordinating and encouraging theefforts of states, UN entities, business, NGOs – all thestakeholders who should be involved in the process.Review should identify achievements and criticalsuccess factors, support countries in making informedpolicy choices, and mobilise the necessary meansof implementation and partnerships. Mechanismsshould build on existing platforms and processes,and be rigorous and evidence-based. We havelooked for places where SDG-related data could beenhanced using existing reporting mechanisms, andwhere existing review mechanisms could continue tofunction as before, but with a stronger orientation tothe 2030 Agenda. The essential objective is to ensurethat the new system does not place an excessiveburden on states. Our second aim in this paper,therefore, is to describe the architecture for followup and review, and to map where its elements existor could be built. An overview of this part of themapping, also based on the Annex, is found in Box 2below.IISD.org2

Trade in Transforming Our WorldOptions for follow-up and review of the trade-related elements of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable DevelopmentOutline of the argumentIn the first section of this paper, we discuss principlesfor thinking about review mechanisms, followed by abrief discussion in the second section of architecturaloptions for review. The third section reports on amapping exercise designed to show where tradefigures in the SDGs and in the AAAA, globalindicators endorsed in March 20164 and possiblesupplementary indicators, and where the necessarydata are already collected, if it is. The fourth sectiondescribes where trade-related follow-up and reviewmechanisms already exist, assessing where traderelated reporting can be discussed as a way to learnfrom the experiences of others, and benefit from thesuggestions of peers. While they overlap, the focusof section 3 is on the clusters of goals; the focus ofsection 4 is on the organisations. Sections 3 and 4draw on the same detailed mapping in the Annex,but use it in distinct ways. The profusion of optionsfor review mechanisms suggests that some kind ofanalytical synthesis of reporting at a global level wouldbe helpful. Without such an analytical synthesis, thevital contribution of trade to sustainable developmentmay be obscured. The conclusion, therefore, suggeststhat an inter-agency task force could be responsiblefor aggregation of all the trade-related reports for thepurposes of discussion of the interrelated effects andtrade-offs between goals.4The 47th Meeting of the United Nations Statistical Commission endorseda list of indicators for the SDG targets proposed by the IAEG-SDGs in itsreport of 19 February 2016 (United Nations 2016a).IISD.org3

Trade in Transforming Our WorldOptions for follow-up and review of the trade-related elements of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development1.0 Principles for Thinking about the Review MechanismThe ultimate objective of follow-up and review,according to UN members, is “accountability to ourcitizens.” (United Nations, 2015a, para 74). Thepurpose is not a state giving an account of itself toforeigners, but a national process of learning; thegovernment, business, civil society of a nation askingthemselves whether as a country they are achievingtheir own objectives under the 2030 Agenda.Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).5 Inpractice the Secretary-General simply calls on otherbodies to review their own working methods to ensurethat they are supportive of the 2030 Agenda, althoughquadrennial comprehensive policy reviews (QCPR) ofoperational activities for development of the UnitedNations system may well review the performance ofUN entities.What principles and design considerations need tobe taken into account in establishing mechanisms?This paper relies on an analytic framework developedby the International Institute for SustainableDevelopment (IISD) (Halle and Wolfe, 2015; seealso Halle, Najam and Wolfe, 2014; IISD, 2014).It is based on questions to be asked in any analysisof a review mechanism (Mashaw, 2005). Askingthese questions helps us to be sure that we havesystematically considered all the salient factors. Thequestions are:2. By whom?2. By whom;In this paper we look only at self-assessment bygovernments and international organisations, reviewby governments of the actions of other governments,and the role of international organisations in supportof

Trade in Transforming Our World Options for follow-up and review of the trade-related elements of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Trade and trade policy are central to transforming our world, the objective of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Trade can make a cr