China and Australia hold a seminar at the World Trade Organization to discuss trade and environmental issues

Geneva, June 2 (Xinhua) -- During the 7th "Trade and Environment Week" of the World Trade Organization, China and Australia jointly hosted a special seminar on "Carbon Accounting, Standards, and Trade: Leveraging International Cooperation to Reduce Fragmentation of Rules and Support the Global Decarbonization Process" in Geneva, Switzerland on the 2nd. The conference brought together international institutions, authoritative think tanks, and industry experts.

This seminar focuses on the themes of carbon accounting, standard coordination, and trade integration, with a particular emphasis on the prominent challenges under the current deep interweaving of climate and trade. Hu Yingzhi, Deputy Representative of the Chinese Permanent Mission to the World Trade Organization, stated in his speech that the current key issue in the field of trade and environment is not the lack of standards, but the continuous rise of fragmented rules. The World Trade Organization should take a trade perspective and play a role in enhancing transparency, promoting policy coordination, strengthening development cooperation and capacity building.

Kristin Tilly, Deputy Representative of the Australian Permanent Mission to the World Trade Organization, pointed out that all parties should break down institutional barriers and work together to address challenges.

At the seminar, experts in attendance generally believed that strengthening international coordination would help reduce compliance costs for businesses, avoid the spillover effects of unilateral measures, and balance climate governance, trade openness, and the development demands of various countries.

The joint symposium between China and Australia is an important measure to promote international cooperation on climate measures related to trade, such as carbon standards, under the framework of the World Trade Organization. In the second half of 2025, China submitted a proposal to the Trade and Environment Committee of the World Trade Organization on strengthening discussions on carbon standards cooperation. Regarding the issue of global fragmentation of carbon standards, China proposed measures to promote the coordinated development of trade policies and climate measures through strengthening information sharing, promoting the connection of standard systems, and advancing cooperation among international organizations.