You are reading the 19th 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.
#GreenTradeIsNotDead
Dear friends and colleagues,
One month ago, the Green Trade Network held its very first public event — and what a blast it was! Green Trade Day 2025brought together over 80 participants in Brussels, and nearly twice as many joined us online. I would like to warmly thank all the participants, as well as our incredible speakers: Laurence Tubiana (ECF), Jacob Werksman (DG CLIMA), Sergio Balibrea (DG TRADE), Ely Sandler (Harvard), Carolyn Deere Birkbeck (TESS Forum), Ieva Barsauskaite (IISD), Emilie Kerstens (Global Council), Chantal Line Carpentier (UNCTAD), Markus Gehring (CISDL), Mathilde Dupré (Veblen Institute), Antoine Oger and Eline Blot (IEEP).
Two key insights:
Yes, it is still possible to talk trade policy without constantly invoking Donald’s frenetic tariff announcements and
Even if the trade and environmental sustainability nexus is no longer a top priority for the current Commission, it remains a central topic of interest for a wide range of political and economic actors.
As Laurence Tubiana highlighted in her opening speech, we must impose the trade and climate conversation into every possible forum and sphere. Platforms already exist to harness international trade for a just transition — we must seize them and create the conditions for international consensus. This is the spirit behind the ACCTS agreement, signed at the end of 2024 by Costa Rica, Iceland, Switzerland, and New Zealand — and which we recently had the opportunity to unpack with New Zealand’s chief negotiator.
But such consensus with middle- and low-income economies must not come at the expense of the environment. In the guise of necessary simplification, European policymakers are increasingly seeking to dismantle entire sections of Green Deal legislations established under the previous mandate. On the contrary, any international consensus must serve global ambition for climate and the planet. This means not only simplifying where appropriate, but more importantly, ensuring that the EU’s foreign policy instruments are aligned with the objectives of the Green Deal and the challenges of its implementation. That coordination work — bridging domestic Green Deal policies and EU foreign policy — is now handled by the European External Action Service (Green Deal Diplomacy). Yet its mandate remains vague, especially in a context where multiple DGs (ENVI, TAXUD, CLIMA, JUST, FISMA) must now manage the international impacts of legislation under their remit. This is particularly true for EU measures with the greatest effect on middle- and low-income countries such as the ESPR, CBAM and the EUDR — the focus of a new paper I’ve just written. The upcoming G20 Summit in South Africa presents a rare opportunity to accelerate an agenda for regulatory convergence, interoperability, and trade measures that stimulate investment in renewables and the circular economy.
You can read the paper here. And if you're interested in the Green Deal’s global spillovers, how they’re perceived internationally, and the role trade and investment partnerships can play in addressing them — join us on 10 June at Arlon 80 for our public conference, in partnership with the Green Economy Coalition.
Enjoy the read, and have a great week!
Pierre Leturcq,
Coordinator of the Green Trade Network
Event | Shaping global green leadership: Addressing the external spillovers of the Green Deal
Together with the Green Economy Coalition, the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) is organising this event on 10 June 2025 in Brussels to discuss the critical role of trade and investment partnerships in shaping sustainable and inclusive global solutions to the triple planetary crisis.
The World Trade Institute's Summer Academy is offering 9 courses covering cutting-edge issues in trade and investment law and policy. It is designed for private and public sector and civil society professionals as well as higher-education students.
This gathering aims to amplify Africa’s voice on trade and sustainable development governance and reform, with a focus on industrialization, agriculture, value chain development, and new sources of finance. The event will inform policy discussions leading up to the G20 Summit in November 2025. More info
Securing Finance and Technology for LDCs Climate-Resilient Development: The Role of Trade and International Cooperation
4 June 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland
This workshop will dive into COP29 outcomes on climate finance and opportunities to leverage aid for trade, and also the role of trade cooperation in promoting the co-development, diffusion, access, and transfer of technologies critical to enabling LDCs transition to low-carbon economies. Details to follow
The second Von der Leyen Commission began with an answer: simplification.This policy brief proposes an alternative pathway to simplification: one grounded in cooperation as the foundation for maintaining the EU’s ambition and policy trajectory while building global leadership. Read more
This policy paper reviews the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) with a primary focus on new performance and information requirements for products sold in the EU. Read more
This briefing note provides a brief overview of the main impacts of the agricultural sector on greenhouse gas emissions. It identifies context-specific considerations for these impacts as well as broader social, economic, and environmental trade-offs, and discusses possible priorities and directions for reforming agricultural subsidies. Read more
Despite the proliferation of climate mitigation policies and standards, interoperability has been a steadfast priority of the international climate regime since its inception. This briefing note provides some examples of climate policy interoperability in the areas of equivalency and converging international standards. Read more
The Veblen Institute recently published a briefing on new cases of investor-State disputes based on the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). They pointed out that despite the exit of the EU and 11 Member States, as well as the UK, from the ECT, the agreement continues to be massively used by investors. Read more
This expert comment explores a critical driver for Africa’s capital markets: the role of access to institutional investment and the often-underestimated impact of global investment index inclusion. Read more
About the Green Trade Network
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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