Manage conflicts among multilateral agreements: International economic institutions must advance transitions to a sustainable economy, including by multilaterally harmonized systems that allow for discriminating between products on the basis of production processes, based on multilateral agreement. Global trade and investment regimes must be embedded in a normative context of social, developmental, and environmental values.

Conflict among different treaties – both within sustainability policy and beyond – has recently become a major concern. Here, governments must strengthen the capacity and mandate of environmental treaties (including their secretariats) to collect, disseminate and exchange information on links with other treaties. Treaties with similar objectives need formal mechanisms for joint negotiation and management. Furthermore, the requirement to respect and support the objectives of (other) multilateral environmental treaties should be accepted as a general principle.

It is particularly important to manage conflicts between economic and environmental treaties, with reforms of the institutional framework for sustainable development brought in line with the ideal of the ‘green economy’. Environmental goals must be mainstreamed into the activities of global economic institutions, while global trade and investment regimes need to be embedded in a normative context of social, developmental and environmental values. Discriminating in world trade law between products on the basis of production processes is critical, if investments in cleaner products and services are to be encouraged. Such discrimination should be based on multilateral agreement to prevent protectionist impacts.

This text is an excerpt from the Policy Brief Transforming Governance and Institutions for a Planet under Pressure. Revitalizing the Institutional Framework for Global Sustainability. A longer, fully referenced version of the policy brief is available as Earth System Governance Working Paper No. 17.