GENEVA (Oct. 2, 2024) — WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala met with over 20 CEOs and industry representatives from agricultural companies and certification organizations to discuss strategies for navigating the increasingly complex environmental regulations aimed at combating climate change and protecting biodiversity. The roundtable, held on October 1 at the World Trade Organization headquarters, focused on the challenges businesses face as they work to comply with these evolving sustainability standards.
During the meeting, Okonjo-Iweala highlighted the growing number of environment-related measures, with 8,661 notifications submitted to various WTO committees since 1997. “These measures present significant challenges for market actors, especially in developing countries where businesses may need to comply with divergent standards to access international markets,” she said.
She emphasized the importance of careful regulatory design to ensure that small producers in developing economies are not marginalized. “We must integrate them into global value chains rather than exclude them,” Okonjo-Iweala noted, stressing the need for robust traceability, verification, and certification systems to ease compliance burdens.
Industry leaders, particularly from the coffee, cocoa, and palm oil sectors, called for clearer regulations, harmonized standards, and aligned certification requirements to prevent confusion and reduce compliance costs. They also highlighted the need for greater technical and financial support to help small producers navigate these challenges.
Okonjo-Iweala expressed appreciation for the dialogue, stating, “The key messages from today’s meeting will be shared with policymakers.” She encouraged the business community to explore opportunities presented by the new regulations while tackling the challenges.
Looking forward, the Director-General underscored the critical need to address regulatory fragmentation and foster stronger dialogue between policymakers and businesses to ensure that “new sustainability regulations do not end up harming small farmers.”
