Environmental goods include the clean technologies that provide foundations for sustainable growth in a carbon-constrained world. There are promising initiatives under way to remove impediments to global trade of environmental goods. Global exports in manufactured environmental goods are now four times larger than global aerospace exports and two-thirds the size of global automotive exports, but there is an absence of trade reports on global trade in environmental goods. Reporting on global trade in environmental goods would provide a comprehensive lens into diversification that will be needed for the transition to low-carbon economies, help countries benchmark the shorter- and longer-term impact of policies such as regulation and fiscal stimulus targeted at green growth, as well as innovation, and strengthen the G20 leaders’ commitment to inclusive and sustainable growth by providing visibility into the pace of investments to address climate change.
