End trade barriers to help tackle climate crisis, says WTO chief

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala calls for changes to ensure developing nations are resilient to affects of extreme weather

Removing trade barriers around the world would help to tackle the climate crisis, enable a just transition" away from fossil fuels and make developing countries more resilient to the impacts of global heating, the head of the World Trade Organization has said.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who took over as director general of the global watchdog last March, said: Trade is part of the solution, not part of the problem ... We need a global effort to climate-proof the supply chains and infrastructure of the most vulnerable economies or risk undoing hard-won economic progress and development."