Launch of the Commodities and Development Report 2019: Commodity Dependence, Climate Change and the Paris Agreement

​UNCTAD’s Commodities and Development Report 2019 examines the nexus between commodity dependence, climate change and the Paris Agreement. Commodity sectors not only affect the climate but are also heavily vulnerable to it. On the one hand, the prospection, production, processing, consumption and disposal of commodities are among the main sources of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, climate change is a source of important shocks to commodity sectors, posing dire social and economic risks to people and countries dependent on commodities. Although commodity-dependent developing countries (CDDCs) have contributed only modestly to greenhouse gas emissions, they will be strongly affected by the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Moreover, for most of these countries, rising to the challenge of climate change will be difficult as they lack the financial and technical capacities to design and implement adaptation measures, which highlights their need for assistance.

While climate change and the implementation of the Paris Agreement pose many challenges to CDDCs, they also create localized opportunities in some countries. In particular, the global push towards renewable energy creates opportunities in countries with large reserves of materials used in clean technologies, such as solar photovoltaic cells, wind turbines and electric vehicle batteries. The design of policies and strategies in commodity sectors needs to consider the challenges and opportunities emanating from climate change and an evolving global climate policy regime. This process will require significant finance and political will, as well as the development of human resources and technological capabilities.

The Report will be launched during the UN Trade Forum: SDGs and Climate Change, hosted by UNCTAD from 9 to 13 September 2019, in partnership with UNFCCC, FAO, UN Environment, UNECE, ITC, the Commonwealth, the ACP Group, SECO, UK-DFID, FFEM, IOI and the UEBT. The agenda of the UN Trade Forum is available at https://unctad.org/en/pages/MeetingDetails.aspx?meetingid=2093.

The report launch will gather representatives of governments, the private sector, civil society and academia, as well as experts in various fields of the commodity sector, including agriculture, energy, minerals, ores and metals. We kindly ask that participants register online at https://reg.unog.ch/event/28845/ .