Other trade-related activities - UNEP

One of the Environment and Trade Hub’s core focus areas is reducing the footprint of trade and greening the brown. Under this work stream UN Environment supports countries to make trade and investment activities more sustainable by assessing adverse environmental, social and health impacts related to trade practices and developing alternative solutions. The Environment and Trade Hub has spearheaded work on trade in lead acid batteries in their health implications, putting forth recommendations on a regional strategy to improve the sound management of used lead acid batteries in South East Asia.

Alternative trade models and systems have appeared at the local level, in response to a changing public perception of conventional market behavior. The sharing economy provides one example, offering a mechanism for consumers to exchange goods and services locally in a more sustainable manner. The Environment and Trade Hub actively responds to new trends and market behavior and seeks to engage in trade-related projects championing new models and approaches.

The Environment and Trade Hub is undertaking a mapping of trade flows of environmental goods, with an aim to create a globally consistent time series of such trade. Mapping these trade flows offers critical insight into which countries are involved in the trade of environmental goods, where the main markets are for these products, and will also help to identify any differences in the trade patterns of environmental goods and traditional goods.