Rich countries are hiding behind the “green transition” to boost their economies at the expense of developing nations by exploiting outdated WTO rules. Rebekah Greenspan, secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), told the Financial Times (FT).
“Many trade rules prohibit policies that developing countries can exploit. And developed countries have more financial power to subsidise in areas that are good for the environment,” Greenspan said, quoted by RBC.
The international trading system, which has enabled nations such as South Korea and Costa Rica to make progress, is no longer working for the poorest, the secretary general said. Trade and investment, she said, were the two pillars that put developing countries on the path to dynamic growth, but today they are denied market access because of the rapid pace of technological change and new barriers in rich nations.
“The countries least prepared for digitalisation are falling further behind in the digital world,” Greenspan emphasised.
Another obstacle for developing countries could be the return of global players to protectionist industrial policies, she said. Greenspan also criticised the European Union’s new “green rules” banning imports from deforested land as too punitive, and called the Paris Agreement’s carbon boundary adjustment mechanism far from fair, as developing countries have to pay the same price for emissions as EU states.
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