Exploring synergies between environmental labelling and standards, and trade in environmental goods

Over the last few decades, policies to promote environmental goods and sustainable supply chains have proliferated. In the environment policy domain, this includes environmental labelling and information schemes and environmental sustainability standards and regulations. In the trade policy domain, the focus has been on the liberalisation of trade in environmental goods.This report focuses on how environmental policy and trade policy approaches to incentivising the uptake of environmental goods and sustainable supply chains compare, intersect and can be mutually supportive. It does so, first, by comparing environmental policy and trade policy approaches to identifying environmental goods. Second, it identifies key differences between these two approaches, and third, it sets out recommendations to enhance synergies between the two. While environmental labelling and information schemes and environmental sustainability standards and regulations may provide opportunities to complement trade policies in promoting environmental goods, further analysis is required for their potential application.