Ardern reveals five-way climate trade discussion

New Zealand will lead five-way trade talks with Norway, Iceland, Costa Rica and Fiji to try to use trade to combat climate change by slashing fossil-fuel subsidies and abolishing tariffs on environmental goods.

Work on the deal was announced in New York yesterday by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Costa Rica’s vice-minister for foreign trade Duayner Saver Chaverri, Icelandic Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir and Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.

Called the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS), the agreement plans remove tariffs on environmental goods, make new commitments on environmental services, establish concrete commitments to end fossil-fuel subsidies and introduce an ‘‘ecolabelling programme’’.

So far there is little detail, with negotiations expected to start in March, 2020.

‘‘Climate change is a serious threat to us all and we fully need to step up our efforts,’’ said Solberg, the only politically conservative leader of the grouping.

The deal is a modest trade and climate win for Ardern, although with only five minnow countries with a joint population of less than 20 million people and deal to still be negotiated, it is starting small.

‘‘I think our size does not fairly reflect our ambition,’’ Ardern commented while announcing the deal.

‘‘We are starting with a small group of like-minded countries that will produce an agreement that can be then used as blueprint for wider change,’’ Ardern said.

‘‘Tackling climate change is a long-term issue this Government is committed to, and that will require action both at home and abroad. It also needs to be addressed in trade rules.’’