The stakes are once again high at the UN climate change conference COP29 happening in a year of record-breaking temperatures.

A new report, commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce, estimates that climate-related extreme weather events have cost the global economy more than $2 trillion over the past decade.

ICC has published its ICC Principles for Sustainable Trade: Wave 3, which provides a frame to assess both the environmental sustainability of a transaction, and how it supports socio-economically sustainable development.

In a new paper, “Global Principles for Effective Border Carbon Adjustments”, the global business organisation recognises the clear rationale for introducing border carbon adjustments given prevailing asymmetries in domestic climate policies.

With nearly one million species at risk of extinction according to the 2019 Global Assessment Report, global biodiversity is severely at risk. At COP15 in 2022, world leaders agreed on a goal of living in harmony with nature by 2050 and adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) to help achieve that vision. This year’s COP 16 will review progress on the GBF and decide how to monitor and fund its implementation.

Existing sustainable finance frameworks often cannot be easily and objectively applied to many Trade Finance products due to their nature as a ‘flow’ product without delineated projects. The PSTF offer clear, transparent, and consistent guidelines to enable banks, corporates and investors to effectively channel capital towards sustainable and inclusive trade finance facilities while mitigating the risks associated with greenwashing.

At COP16, negotiating parties will decide on the modalities for a multilateral mechanism for sharing benefits from the use of digital sequence information.

ICC Secretary General John W.H Denton AO has welcomed a new “Business Ready 2024” report from the World Bank as a significant tool for advancing private sector development.

The event brought together leaders from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to discuss what is concretely needed to get an effective agreement finalised and how businesses can support these efforts.

The ICC Rules on Combating Corruption constitute the cornerstone of ICC's anti-corruption work, serving both as a tool for self-regulation by business and as a roadmap for governments in their efforts to fight extortion and bribery.