Affordable and Clean Energy

The 2026 World Economic Situation and Prospects report arrives at a time of profound uncertainty and accelerating changes in the global economic order.

The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2026 is a report produced by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in partnership with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the five United Nations regional commissions: the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

The 2026 World Economic Situation and Prospects report arrives at a time of profound uncertainty and accelerating changes in the global economic order.

Technical regulations apply to both imported and domestically produced goods. They are introduced through national legislation to set out product characteristics such as maximum emission requirements or minimum energy-efficiency levels for targeted goods. Technical regulations are also used to define control and certification procedures (e.g., testing and certification requirements) to ensure compliance with the requirements they introduce. Another important element of technical regulations is the introduction of mandatory symbols, marking, or labelling requirements on the products they regulate. Such labels are often used to inform consumers of the energy efficiency or emissions levels of targeted goods.

This chapter provides a detailed step-by-step checklist to identify climate change-strategic trade sectors and trade-related measures.

To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, parties are required to prepare, communicate, and update their successive Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) every five years, aiming for the highest possible ambition. NDCs represent each country's commitment to reducing emissions, adapting to climate impacts, and promoting sustainable development. The first global stock-take under the Paris Agreement, which concluded in December 2023 at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), noted significant, albeit insufficient, progress toward the goals of the Paris Agreement. It called for a comprehensive transformation across all sectors, which is essential to lowering emissions, strengthening resilience, and mobilizing resources in a just and sustainable manner to accelerate and enhance efforts to meet the agreed-upon goals. Addressing the challenges of climate change requires a comprehensive and integrated approach that connects climate policy with broader economic and development strategies. Effective climate action needs to be closely linked to human capital development, industrial strategy, climate policy—including carbon pricing as part of the policy mix available to countries—and climate-aligned trade and investment policies. Moreover, integrating climate ambitions into national and subnational development plans, economic strategies, and sectoral policies is essential for promoting policy coherence and maximizing synergies between climate action, economic growth, and social development. In this context, international trade plays a critical role in advancing the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the SDGs. It facilitates access to environmentally friendly goods and services, technology, and knowledge—particularly those essential for the implementation of NDCs and mitigation and adaptation plans—while supporting the development of climate-resilient and resource-efficient value chains. This guide provides policymakers with a six-step process to better integrate trade-related measures into NDCs.

In the same way that tariffs have been used as policy instruments to reduce carbon emissions, public procurement, subsidies and tax exemptions can be used to facilitate the importation of sustainable goods needed to support the transition to a low-carbon economy. Public procurement programs can be tailored to include provisions to facilitate the import of carbon-efficient goods when equivalent products are unavailable domestically and in the absence of plans to develop local production. This can be supported by introducing a “sustainability lens” that includes requirements to favour the sourcing of low-carbon products and services in all public procurement biddings. Examples of public procurement measures included in reviewed NDCs range from the public acquisition of LED light bulbs to electric or hybrid vehicles and energy-efficient appliances.

To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement,1 Parties are required to prepare, communicate and update successive nationally determined contributions (NDCs) every five years, aiming for the highest possible ambition (UNFCCC, 2016). NDCs embody each country’s commitment to reduce emissions, adapt to climate impacts, and promote sustainable development.

Measures focusing on sustainable export value chains are among the most common trade-related measures in NDCs (UNCTAD, 2023a). Among the trade policy tools developing countries use to support climate action, these types of measures are also the ones with the strongest development focus and the broadest scope. Examples of sustainable export value chains or sectors targeted by trade-related measures in NDCs include timber and non-timber forest products, agrifood and livestock, and tourism (UNCTAD, 2023a).