‘Shuffling deckchairs on the titanic’ - trade has a climate denial problem

On World Environment Day, Ruth Bergan, Head of Policy and Advocacy at Transform Trade, reflects on the vital changes to global trade system needed in the face of the climate crisis.  

We’ve understood for decades that the global trade system is based on unsustainable exploitation of both people and nature.

That’s why we work with producers and workers in the Global South to change the status quo. But it’s an uphill struggle: decision makers all too often tell us that we should let the ‘invisible hand of the market’ manage trade. Just recently, we were told by a senior politician that the UK’s trade department is ‘not Just Stop Oil’ and its job isn’t to deal with climate change.

It’s hard to hear politicians claiming trade has nothing to do with climate change - because the communities we work alongside suffer the direct, devastating effects.  

Small scale farmers in Tanzania and Kenya have seen their fields under water: a total loss of their crops and livelihoods for the year. Heatwaves in Bangladesh and India have caused deaths and disruption to everyday life. In Bangladesh temperatures soared above 40 degrees Celsius, unseen for almost 60 years. India saw temperatures above 50 degrees in the North West, whilst the Eastern coast was hit by cyclone Remal. 

Denying a systemic problem - the ‘re-shuffling deck chairs’ mentality

We’re not the only ones raising the alarm here. Denial of the links between trade and climate change is a global problem.

As the outgoing UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, David Boyd, said recently, 

"I started out six years ago talking about the right to a healthy environment having the capacity to bring about systemic and transformative changes. But this powerful human right is up against an even more powerful force in the global economy, a system that is absolutely based on the exploitation of people and nature. And unless we change that fundamental system, then we’re just re-shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic."  

It’s clear firstly that trade is affected by climate change: the people growing the food that ends up on our tables are losing their livelihoods, whilst workers making our clothes suffer extreme heat in poorly ventilated factories. 

But more than that, trade contributes massively to climate change. At a basic level, more trade means more stuff: more emissions caused by agriculture, factories and the transportation of goods around the world. And whilst the market can help to reduce prices, it has not been good at increasing the sustainability of the goods we consume.  Since the World Trade Organisation was formed in 1995, trade has increased enormously and has helped to drive an explosion in fast fashion, plastic pollution and food waste. 

The other thing to consider is that trade can put the brakes on climate action. Our current campaign for an end to the UPOV19 clause in trade deals is just one example of this. In the face of increasingly extreme weather, farmers need more than ever to be able to save seeds, so that they can be resilient to climate shocks.  

But right now, trade agreements put obstacles in the way of farmers saving seeds, contributing to the disappearance of thousands of seed varieties, and making it much easier for global seed companies to turn huge profits developing ‘new’ climate-resilient seeds. 

How to decrease emissions without making workers pay

The fashion industry contributes around 10% of carbon emissions globally. Whilst there is growing recognition that it needs to clean up its act, without fundamental reform of supply chains, (through legislation like the fashion watchdog), it is likely that workers will pay the price.  

As companies in the UK pay more to lessen the environmental impact their clothes make, there is nothing to stop them pushing those extra costs down the supply chain, leading to lower wages and deteriorating working conditions.  

There’s no denying that moving towards an environmentally friendly trade system will involve drastic change for workers. That’s why the process needs to be a ‘just transition’ – protecting both the planet and the needs of people to earn a decent living.

Hearing daily the first-hand accounts of the real and devastating impact the climate crisis is having on the communities we partner with really drives home the urgency with which we all need to act.

Transform Trade’s teams across South Asia and East Africa are standing with farmers and artisans who are fighting to change the trade system – and here in the UK, we’re working to make sure that no more politicians will make the ludicrous claim that trade has nothing to do with climate change.