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Journalism of Courage
Sustainable Trade Index 2024: Resilience has become a central theme today, especially as the world emerges from the pandemic and grapples with concerns about future health crises, climate change, and geopolitical tensions.
As a result, global economies in recent times are increasingly focusing on building resilience, which has led to a noticeable shift in global trade systems.
While economies are in a race to achieve resilience, sustainable trade, innovative thinking, a willingness to adapt, and an integrated approach are the answers.
Sustainable trade is defined as a trade that provides mutually beneficial outcomes for trading partners while effectively balancing economic, social, and environmental considerations.
From global economies adopting policies to strengthen their domestic industries to creating a resilient workforce that can withstand economic shocks, aligning and integrating trade and environmental employees will enable us to build sustainable and green economies.
Sustainable Index Report 2024 by Hinrich Foundation and IMD highlights and ranks global economies in trade sustainability based on three pillars: economic growth, societal advancement, and environmental resilience.
It’s noteworthy to mention that New Zealand has retained as the ‘most sustainable trade economy’ for the third consecutive edition. It has risen one place in both the economic and societal pillars while maintaining its lead in the environmental pillar.
Following next is the UK, which has fallen one place in the economic pillar; however, it has remained steady at fourth in the societal pillar and second in the environmental pillar.
Here are the top 10 most sustainable trade economies globally as of 2024:
| Rank | Economy | Overall | Economic | Societal | Environmental |
| 1 | New Zealand | 100 | 86 | 100 | 100 |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 97.7 | 87.8 | 93.7 | 99.4 |
| 3 | Australia | 87.4 | 75.4 | 99.6 | 83.2 |
| 4 | Singapore | 85.7 | 92.4 | 87 | 75.2 |
| 5 | Japan | 81.5 | 72.2 | 81.9 | 91.2 |
| 6 | South Korea | 81.4 | 92.2 | 85.4 | 67.4 |
| 7 | Hong Kong | 81.4 | 100 | 65.8 | 79.2 |
| 8 | Canada | 80 | 81.1 | 99.8 | 61 |
| 9 | Taiwan | 72.3 | 76.7 | 87.1 | 61.2 |
| 10 | United States of America | 72.2 | 90 | 69.4 | 65.3 |
Source: IMD and Hinrich Foundation
India, the world’s fifth largest economy, has made significant strides in its economic growth; however, challenges such as poverty and inequality persist, in addition to societal challenges like gender inequality and environmental issues like air pollution and deforestation, which have led it to rank 23rd globally in the Sustainable Trade Index 2024.
India’s overall score is 24, with 62.3 for economic factors, 13.3 for societal aspects, and 43.1 for environmental considerations. This indicates India’s strong economic performance, while also highlighting significant challenges in societal and environmental areas.
