Introduction

Tackling climate change requires a transformation of the global economy. While limiting consumption and changing lifestyles would help, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero will be impossible without technological and structural change on a global scale. This transformation will involve costs, but also opportunities – not just to head off an environmental catastrophe, but to reinvent the way the world generates energy, manufactures products and grows food. Just as trade helped to drive economic progress in the past – by incentivizing innovation, leveraging comparative advantages and expanding access to resources and technologies – trade can play a central role in driving progress towards a low-carbon global economy. But harnessing the potential of trade will demand new policies and more cooperation.