The World Economic Forum is pleased to release this discussion paper, From Collision to Vision: Climate Change and World Trade, developed by an ad hoc Working Group of members of the Forum’s Global Agenda Councils.

In recent years, as countries have begun to grapple with the challenge of global warming, fears have arisen that some national and international actions under consideration may conflict with the body of international trade law that has evolved since World War II and been enshrined in the World Trade Organisation.

The Working Group deconstructs this important question, providing an overview of the relevant legal landscape and making a number of practical suggestions that governments could undertake to pre-empt a clash between environmental and trade objectives. Indeed, the paper goes further and offers ideas that would help to ensure that these two important agendas are mutually reinforcing.

This discussion paper illustrates the role of the Global Agenda Council community as a platform for interdisciplinary thought and collaboration. We salute and thank the Working Group members, who are drawn principally from the Forum’s Trade and Climate Change Councils, for having taken this important initiative.

We hope that this discussion paper will stimulate an earlier and more informed debate among policy-makers and others about how the international climate change and trade regimes should be designed to complement rather than conflict with each other.