"We need to profoundly change how we produce and consume things if we want our children to have a sustainable, peaceful and comfortable life in 50 years' time," said WTO deputy director-general Zhang Xiangchen.
Several dozen WTO member countries pledged in late December to intensify discussions on plastic pollution, fossil fuel subsidies and environmentally sustainable trade, in a move hailed as historic by Okonjo-Iweala.Australia's WTO ambassador George Mina, who co-chairs the Informal Dialogue on Plastics Pollution, said 72 countries were now on board.
"Trade policy has to be a part of the solution on the environment and climate change response," he said. At a press conference on fossil fuel subsidies, Iceland's Foreign Minister Thordis Kolbrun R Gylfadottir said renewable energy was"good business", making economic and environmental sense.