You are reading the 11th edition of the Green Trade Network's newsletter, coordinated by IEEP; this monthly digest acts as a nexus for information and key happenings within the world of Green Trade. If this is your first time receiving it, you can find out more here and follow us on Twitter.
Green Trade in 2024 – on a mission to revive multilateralism and the Green Deal agenda.
Dear readers,
A belated Happy New Year from all Green Trade Network members! Prior to jetting off to Abu Dhabi, we wanted to express our sincere gratitude to those of you who have followed and supported our activities throughout the past year! Now, buckle up! 2024 promises to be a wild ride within the trade and environment space. Crucial elections in the EU, US, India and other parts of the world loom large, adding to already simmering geopolitical tensions and geoeconomic fragmentation caused by the continued aggression war led by Russia in Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East, disruptions of maritime trade routes, notably in the Red Sea, increases in containers costs as well as the precarious state of the rules-based multilateral trading system. The WTO’s DG, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, has taken a very proactive approach, touring the world in preparation for the upcoming MC13; could this be another symptom of the degree of fatalism surrounding this upcoming Ministerial? In a meeting with CSOs in Brussels, in which I represented the Green Trade Network, Dr Okonjo Iweala presented MC13’s potential outcomes: progress in the second phase of the fisheries subsidies agreement, a decision on the future of the moratorium on e-commerce, the conclusion of the WTO’s agreement on investment facilitation for development (IFD), the definition of a reform agenda for the organisation, and last but certainly not least, a renewed mandate for both green trade and climate at the WTO.
In addition, Dr. Okonjo also welcomed the EU's proactivity in reaching out to WTO members regarding the Union’s most recent trade-sensitive policies, such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the Deforestation-Free Products Regulation (EUDR). However, she also emphasised the importance of further in-depth intergovernmental discussions to ensure compatibility and alignment between different carbon accounting methodologies and border carbon adjustment schemes, an issue on which we firmly agree that the WTO has a role to play!
What do CSOs expect from this Ministerial?
In a blog post published just this week, E3G’s Emilie Kerstens outlines key deliverables and urges greater ambition on the green trade front: "Alongside the many promising plurilateral initiatives that will be featured at MC13, it is time for an overarching mandate on green trade at the WTO. Members who oppose this should look to the preamble of the Marrakesh agreement, which has always stated that trade should be conducted in accordance with sustainable development", our colleague states. Together with Emilie and other GTN members, we are not ceding to any fatalism and are getting ready to push for concrete results on green trade at MC13. Our members will be organising and participating in a series of events on Green Trade as part of IISD’s Trade + Sustainability Hub. More information and details regarding the agenda are here.
If you wish to organise a meeting and/or contribute to the GTN MC13 update newsletter that we will be sending out from Abu Dhabi, please shoot me an email at pleturcq@ieep.eu
Will the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) see the light of the day by the end of the mandate? …this is –very much the question that we are all left with one day following another postponement of the vote in the Council. The position of German and Italian negotiators – saying they would abstain – has not shifted since the initial postponement last Friday; this now seriously calls into question the capacity of the Belgian Presidency to deliver on this front. The CS3D is one of the Green Deal’s cornerstones, harmonising corporate due diligence obligations on social and environmental issues among the 27.
Failure to land on a European framework for the biggest companies’ due diligence obligations – which even European industry representations have been calling for! - before the EP hemicycle potentially shifts further to the right in June, would represent a major missed opportunity.
The 2024 edition of the biannual Think2030 conference will take place 27 March in Brussels. It is being held during a critical phase, both to deliver the European Green Deal and to ensure its sustainability principles influence the future direction of the EU beyond 2024.
In this report, Climate Strategies members make a case for international cooperation in relation to Border Carbon Adjustments (BCAs) and assess the current state of play to enable this cooperation. This is the final output of our project ‘Making the Trade System Work for Climate 2.0’, which investigates how international trade policy can be amended to better support global climate targets – focusing on BCAs and the potential of plurilateral agreements to increase climate-trade policy efficacy.
Europe Jacques Delores
Upcoming Brief | CBAM Implementation
The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) has sparked controversy and drawn criticism from trading partners, fuelling an increasingly polarized public debate. In response, Europe Jacques Delors is preparing a policy brief on the CBAM’s implementation with dual sets of recommendations – some directed at the EU and others at partner countries, focusing on developing countries and emerging economies. The brief aims to pave the way for a more collaborative approach leading up to the definitive period, which starts in 2026, to ensure a smooth and effective implementation of the mechanism. The brief underscores the importance of mutual understanding in addressing global climate challenges and will be published in February.
This second episode of Re-thinking Europe explores the EU's trade and sustainable development policies and their impact on small farmers and workers, especially in the Global South. With Sergi Corbalan, international trade advisor for the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, we discuss the successes and challenges at the intersection of trade and sustainable development policy.
This third episode of Re-thinking Europe delves into a pivotal aspect of the EU’s trade policy: Critical Raw Materials (CRMs).
With Cécile Billaux, Head of the Private Sector, Trade and Investment Unit at DG INTPA, at the European Commission, we discuss the origins, as well as the negative impacts of CRMs' extraction - associated with the EU's increasing resource demand - on people and the environment in resource-rich developing countries.
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)
This edition of the IISD Trade and Sustainability Review highlights seven critical topics of trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization's upcoming Thirteenth Ministerial Conference (MC13). The authors delve into e-commerce, environment, development, fisheries subsidies, WTO reform, investment facilitation, and food security to prepare us all for the upcoming negotiations.
In addition, ISSD's State of Sustainability Initiatives team has two brand new reports on carbon management and carbon neutrality:
The Green Trade Network (GTN) is a group of policy experts from 25 research organisations, ranging from think tanks to NGOs and academia, conducting evidence-based research and outreach activities on the trade and environment nexus. GTN member organisations are based in 9 EU Member States and the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. The GTN aims to collectively promote a European agenda for a better alignment of trade policies and trade-impacting measures with critical environmental and climate objectives.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor CINEA can be held responsible for them
The Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) is an independent sustainability think tank with offices in Brussels. As a not-for-profit organisation with over 40 years of experience, we are committed to advancing impact-driven sustainability policy across the EU and the world.
Institute for European Environmental Policy, Rue Joseph II 36-38, 1000, Brussels, Belgium, 022111097
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