Get Guardian on GoogleNigeria and other developing economies could use climate-related trade to diversify their economies, expand exports and build resilience to growing economic risks from climate change, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said.
UNCTAD, in its latest Global Trade Update: Accelerating climate action requires trade cooperation, said global exports of goods linked to solar and wind energy value chains exceeded $1.8 trillion in 2025, underlining the growing commercial opportunities around the global energy transition.
The agency said stronger trade cooperation would be critical for developing countries, including Nigeria, to gain affordable access to climate technologies, investment, services and technical knowledge while developing domestic capacity to participate in emerging low-carbon value chains.
According to the report, climate change is already creating significant economic risks, with one estimate projecting losses equivalent to 10 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) at 3°C of warming. For poorer countries closer to the equator, losses could reach 17 per cent of GDP.
UNCTAD said the economic implications make access to climate technologies increasingly important for developing economies seeking to strengthen their energy, agricultural, transport and water systems.
It identified solar, hydropower, bioenergy and low-carbon transport technologies among the most frequently prioritised technologies for emissions reduction, while water collection and storage and climate-resilient agricultural technologies were identified as major adaptation needs.
For Nigeria, the findings highlight the potential to use the energy transition and climate-related industries as part of its efforts to diversify exports and reduce dependence on crude oil.
The report’s emphasis on solar, low-carbon transport, agriculture and water technologies is particularly relevant to Nigeria, where investment in renewable energy, electric mobility, gas-based transition technologies and climate-resilient agriculture is expanding.
UNCTAD said developing countries could also increase their participation in environmentally sustainable industries, rather than remain largely consumers of imported technologies.
Developing economies already export substantial volumes of sustainable goods and services, including $1.3 trillion in biodiversity-based goods in 2024, $1.2 trillion in ocean-related goods and services in 2025 and an estimated $204 billion in non-plastic substitutes in 2024.
The agency said these sectors could help countries broaden their production and export bases, create employment and strengthen their resilience to external and climate-related shocks.
For Nigeria, this could translate into opportunities in areas such as renewable-energy equipment, battery and electric-mobility value chains, climate-smart agriculture, sustainable packaging, recycling, biodiversity-related products and other green industries.
UNCTAD, however, warned that developing countries could struggle to capture these opportunities without reforms to tariffs, standards, regulations and access to finance.
It said tariffs can increase the cost of climate technologies, while non-tariff measures such as technical regulations, product standards and conformity requirements can delay deployment and raise compliance costs when they are not designed transparently.
The report found that although climate provisions are increasingly appearing in international trade agreements, implementation remains weak.
More than half of trade agreements signed between 2016 and 2021 included climate-related provisions, compared with only 18 per cent of agreements concluded between 1990 and 2015.
However, only seven per cent of identified climate-related provisions addressed the reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers.
UNCTAD also said that of 174 countries surveyed in 2025, only seven reported fully implementing trade facilitation measures for green and climate-relevant goods.
The agency said the challenge for developing economies is not simply to increase trade volumes but to build the industrial and productive capacity needed to retain more value domestically.
It called for stronger cooperation among trade and environmental policymakers, improved access to climate technologies, investment in infrastructure, skills development and greater support for local industries.
For Nigeria, such measures could help domestic businesses move beyond importing climate technologies to participating in their production, assembly, servicing and export.
UNCTAD said trade agreements should therefore move beyond broad climate commitments and support practical measures that improve technology access, investment and productive capacity.
“Trade can play a larger role in supporting climate adaptation, emissions reduction and economic resilience,” the agency said, stressing that stronger implementation and deeper trade cooperation would be needed to turn climate commitments into economic opportunities.
The report was released on November 9, 2026, ahead of the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye.
