Call for Papers:

As the urgency to address the climate crisis intensifies, greening trade has emerged as a priority area for collective action in the highly interconnected global economy. From a holistic perspective on global value chains, it is crucial not only to mitigate the environmental impacts of trade but also to advance greener trade processes. For instance, streamlining and simplifying trade procedures can reduce the carbon intensity of transactions and help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.

However, policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders face significant challenges in advancing green or climate-smart trade facilitation, as there is no consensus or established sets of guidelines defining its concept, scope, and measurement, or identifying relevant policy tools and practices. While certain trade facilitation measures, such as paperless trade, are recognized for their environmental benefits as by-products of efficiency gains, there is a lack of studies that focus on the greening effects of trade facilitation.

This Call for Papers, jointly proposed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), seeks to address these challenges by fostering theoretical, empirical, and practical discussions on green trade facilitation.

The solicited papers are expected to provide insights into empirical approaches and measurement concepts and methodologies, analyses of the environmental impacts of green trade facilitation, and actionable policy recommendations to support developing economies, particularly in Asia and the Pacific. They can also examine regional and global cooperation among practitioners in the field—such as customs officials and traders—along with trade policymakers, trade financiers, and international organizations, to promote collective decision-making and sustainable trade practices.

The topics covered include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Empirical Approaches and Measuring Green Trade Facilitation
  • Definition, concept, scope, and methods for measuring the greening impact of trade facilitation
  • Case studies or empirical approaches to measure impacts
• Thematic Studies on Green Trade Facilitation (not limited to)
  • Digital solutions in trade facilitation
  • Facilitating compliance with trade-related environmental conventions and regulations such as carbon border adjustments
  • Green transportation
  • Green customs
  • Facilitation of trade in environmental goods
  • Sustainable supply chain and circular economy
  • Sustainable trade finance
  • Trade facilitation and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)
• Trade Facilitation Policies and International Cooperation
  • Identification and evaluation of policies to advance green trade facilitation
  • Implications for policymakers and private sector participants
  • Roles of stakeholders at the national, regional, and global levels

Submission Procedure

Authors should submit their extended abstract in English by 15 March 2025. The abstract should be clear and concise, with a total length of 500–600 words, and must include the title, author(s)’ name(s), affiliation(s), research background, motivation, methodology, and expected policy implications. Please click to submit your entry. Successful applicants will be notified by 10 April 2025.

The Selection Committee, composed of senior researchers from the ADB and ESCAP panels, will conduct a review process. Up to 10 abstracts may be selected. Authors of selected abstracts must submit their draft paper (5,000 words) by 20 May 2025.

The full paper should be 6,000-8,000 words in length and clearly address the research questions stated in the initial submission. Submissions should contain the following:

• Paper title
• Author information (including co-authors): name, affiliation, address, email
• Abstract (150-250 words)
• Introduction
• Main text (split into various sections with headings and subheadings)
• Conclusion and policy recommendations
• References

The draft paper with submission deadline of 20 May 2025, and full paper with submission deadline of 31 July 2025, should be submitted to arosario@adb.org; zardaniel.consultant@adb.org; and wannarat.charoensri@un.org

Arrangements for Selected Papers

Authors of selected papers will be invited to present their papers at a conference to be hosted jointly by ADB and ESCAP. The presentations will take place on one of the days during the Paperless Trade Week 2025, scheduled from 9 to 13 June 2025, at the United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok (specific session date to be confirmed). The organizers will cover the cost of one round-trip economy class airfare, hotel accommodation, and daily subsistence allowances for the duration of the conference, for each accepted manuscript.

An honorarium of US$1000 will be paid to the selected authors upon presentation at the conference and approval of the final paper. ADB will provide travel and accommodation support to one author per paper, who must be a citizen of an Asian Development Bank member economy. Selected papers will be considered for publication as policy briefs or inclusion in a monograph, subject to their quality and policy relevance, to be determined by ADB and ESCAP. Final paper submission is thus expected by 31 July 2025.