ICC Principles for Sustainable Trade and Trade Finance

Trade underpins economic growth, connects markets and supports development. But if global trade is to continue delivering these benefits in the long term, and ensure resilient global economies and a healthy planet, it must also support sustainability.  

Yet, assessing sustainability within international trade and trade finance remains a major challenge. Trade transactions – which connect numerous parties across the globe – remain highly fragmented and complex in nature. This is further compounded by a lack of consistent, standardised definitions across countries for assessing the sustainability of transactions. Without clarity, efforts to promote sustainable trade risks being undermined. Crucially, it also makes it more difficult to align global trade with the goals of the Paris Agreement and mobilise the finance needed to deliver them.  

The growing interest in environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) provides a beacon of hope for change. Yet, interest alone isn’t enough – clear, consistent definitions on sustainable international trade and trade finance are needed to turn ambition into action.  

With this in mind, ICC and major trade banks, developed the Principles for Sustainable Trade and Trade Finance, providing the clarity and common ground needed to help global trade play its part in delivering on sustainability goals and in meeting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target.  

The Sustainable Trade Finance Principles sit under the broader Principles for Sustainable Trade, which provide a frame to assess both the environmental sustainability of a transaction, and how it supports socio-economically sustainable development. 

In December 2025, ICC released an update of the Principles to include the revised Social Trade Finance and Sustainability-Linked Supply-Chain Finance components, subsequent to broad consultation with leading trade banks over the past year.

The ICC Principles for Sustainable Trade 

The Sustainable Trade Principles, currently in its third iteration (Wave 3), aim to define standards for sustainable trade to accelerate the shift to a more sustainable economy. It provides a framework to assess sustainability of trade across four key components – the ‘use of proceeds’, ‘seller’, ‘buyer’, and ‘distribution’ – against two critical dimensions, namely environmental and socio-economically sustainable development.  

The ICC Principles for Sustainable Trade include:  

• High-level principles for banks to utilise and base their internal methodologies on  
• Guidance on methodology for how the principles can best be utilised in a common framework, with practical advice on assessments across different components  
• A framework providing nuanced sustainability assessments based on sector-specific evidence  
• A Sustainable Credential Library to consolidate recognised standards, conventions, and ESG scorers  
• Clear guidance on acceptable forms of evidence, to ensure the framework is more accessible and less burdensome, including for small- and medium-sized enterprises
• The integration of any regional taxonomies, where appropriate, allowing for greater applicability across diverse markets  
• The Principles for Sustainable Trade Finance (PSTF), which enhance the Use of Proceeds assessment of the Principles for Sustainable for Trade by setting thresholds and assessments within trade finance to ensure alignment with established frameworks whilst enabling more flexibility in evidencing sustainability  

The Sustainable Trade Finance Principles 

Together with industry leaders, ICC further developed the Sustainable Trade Finance Principles, which are composed of three pillars which can be endorsed by banking institutions as well as guidance on sustainability-linked trade finance.

Previous milestones 

What’s next? 

ICC will continue collaborating with banks, corporates, and industry partners to support implementation, broaden endorsement of to all components of the principles, and ensure they remain practical, scalable, and reflective of market needs. 

Please  reach out to the ICC team for further details and to explore the possibility of endorsing one of the four pillars.