You are reading the 23rd edition of the Green Trade Network's newsletter, coordinated by IEEP; this bi-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.
Dear readers,
Amid escalating geopolitical tensions, growing ecological backlash from Washington to Brussels, and the resurgence of economic protectionism, 2025 has nonetheless marked a pivotal year for the Green Trade Network. We were delighted to meet many of you at the Green Trade Day in April, which proved a great success with over a hundred participants in the room and even more online. The GTN was also invited to contribute to several public discussions, including a hearing before the European Economic and Social Committee on the future of multilateralism last September, alongside President Van Rompuy. Our community continues to grow — with more than 700 followers on LinkedIn and 880 subscribers to this newsletter — and we are deeply grateful for your continued trust and engagement. Before turning to the three key developments of this winter — COP30, the EU–South Africa CTIP, and recent shifts around CBAM and the EU–EU-Mercosur agreement — we wish you warm and happy end-of-year celebrations with your loved ones.
COP30: trade at the centre of the negotiations: The “Global Mutirão” outcome of COP30 confirmed that multilateralism is still alive, but it also laid bare deep geo-economic divisions and a continued erosion of EU climate leadership. President Lula described Belém as the “COP of truth”, crystallising fault lines - increasingly shaped by trade, competitiveness and industrial policy. The EU spent much of the conference on the defensive over unilateral measures such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and their spillover impacts on the Global South. On trade and climate, negotiators ultimately agreed to convene three structured trade–climate dialogues at upcoming Bonn sessions. Alongside the negotiation agenda, Brazil launched the Integrated Forum on Climate Change and Trade (IFCCT). After initially suggesting it would take part in the meeting, the EU ultimately did not attend the forum’s launch event, fearing it could turn into yet another space for “EU bashing.” A six-month consultation period started last week with a first round of meetings in Geneva, during which countries are invited to share their views on the forum’s role and priorities. Still unresolved are the place that will be granted to civil society organisations, as well as the relationship between this new ad hoc framework and the structured discussions set to take place under the auspices of the UNFCCC.
CTIP: much ado about nothing?Two weeks ago, the EU and South Africa published the text of their first Clean Trade and Investment Partnership (CTIP). Framed as the international pillar of the Clean Industrial Pact, CTIPs were meant to be flexible, fast-track instruments targeting critical investment and cooperation areas for industrial decarbonisation. Instead, the EU–South Africa CTIP takes the form of a short, non-binding memorandum of understanding. While it sends a political signal to markets — reaffirming decarbonisation ambitions and facilitating access to South African critical minerals — the text lacks substance. The agreement falls short on including references to the Paris Agreement, alignment with NDCs, agri-food decarbonisation pathways, and concrete investment volumes (including the €4.7 billion announced earlier this year).
Disagreements over biofuels and EU renewable energy rules, notably involving Sasol, appear to explain this minimalist outcome, raising broader questions about the EU’s actual clean trade ambitions in the Global South.
Big Week for the future of EU CBAM and the EU Mercosur FTA – Yesterday, the European Commission released a full package of implementing acts for the EU CBAM (default values methodology, specific changes for the electricity sector), as well as two legislative proposals. The first one concerns the expansion of CBAM’s scope to downstream sectors and addressing circumvention risks, the other one proposes the creation of a decarbonization fund (to provide targeted support to EU exporting industries), to operate between 2028 and 2029. The Commission’s proposed extension is both necessary and proportionate, addressing clear carbon leakage risks for selected semifinished and finished goods without turning the CBAM into a protectionist tool. By embedding carbon pricing along value chains and entering into force in 2028, it strengthens climate effectiveness while allowing time for adaptation. Stay tuned for further analysis from GTN members on the decarbonization fund and the implementing acts in early 2026.
In the meantime, the drama surrounding the EU–Mercosur FTA continues, with a potentially decisive meeting of the EU Council taking place today. The Council could either grant the European Commission a mandate to ratify the deal by the end of the year or, as France is urging, once again postpone its signature. While the co-legislators reached a compromise on Wednesday on additional safeguards to protect “sensitive” products from unfair competition, President Lula has warned that he could walk away from the deal if it is not signed before the end of December. Pressure in Brussels has reached a peak today, with more than 10,000 farmers marching against the agreement. If it goes through, France could also face a turbulent end-of-year holiday season.
Pierre Leturcq,
Coordinator of the Green Trade Network
Recording | Expert Webinar on Trade and Climate at COP30
A few weeks after COP30 in Belém, this expert webinar brings together trade policy experts to explore the trade-related developments that shaped the outcome.
Authors: Eline Blot, Nora Hiller, Auriane Flottes de Pouzols
This briefing assesses trade-related sustainability challenges in Thailand relevant to the Free Trade Agreement with the EU and proposes recommendations to further environmental and climate cooperation and progress between the two parties. Read more
On 16 December, the European Commission is expected to present a ninth “omnibus” draft regulation, this time on food security. The leaked working version published in the press paves the way for a significant weakening of the EU’s health and environmental protections in the field of pesticides. Presented as a simplification measure, this reform could in fact profoundly reshape regulation in Europe. Read more
Recognizing the urgent need to forge collaboration and solutions at the nexus of trade, climate, and sustainable development, TESS commissioned a series of expert views to spur discussion on a proactive, forward-looking, and inclusive agenda on where the trading system can contribute to addressing the climate crisis and supporting climate-resilient development. Read more
Authors: Yanne Horas, Fernando Morra, Anahí Wiedenbrüg
By 2025, African countries are projected to spend USD 89 billion on debt servicing, crowding out critical development spending. This report diagnoses debt vulnerabilities faced by low-income countries and introduces the Debt for Resilience (D4R) initiative, a coordinated framework to reduce official debt burdens, safeguard external debt sustainability, and unlock space for long-term investments in climate resilience and development. Read more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office held public hearings ahead of the joint review of the USMCA in July 2026. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy testified in the hearings, focusing on several concrete changes that need to be made to the agreement to improve food, farming, and rural economies in all three countries. It’s hard to know what’s possible for now, but the process of articulating those proposals builds towards a future in which we hope a more progressive trade policy is truly possible. Read more
Authors: Martin Dietrich Brauch, Ben Baraga, Hansika Agrawal, and Sean Gutierrez-Schieferl, with Sneha Singh, Huahua Chen, and Yunkai Liao
In the critical minerals race, governments are swiftly negotiating trade deals, partnerships, and MOUs. The negotiation landscape is evolving, fragmented, and opaque. Talks are often confidential or only partially disclosed. The stakes are high, with implications for environmental protections, community rights, industrial policy, just transitions, and sustainable development. Power dynamics are decisive, as geopolitical competition shapes terms, host states push for value addition, deals are bundled with financing for extraction or infrastructure, and civil society and parliamentary oversight are limited. This brief unfolds these findings and advances recommendations for resource-rich governments and other stakeholders. Read more
In this podcast, we touch upon COP30 outcomes and current climate leadership with colleagues from the Think Sustainable Europe network, Jens Mattias Clausen from CONCITO, Zofia Wetmańska from the Reform Institute, and IEEP Executive Director, Antoine Oger. Moderated by Krystyna Springer. Listen now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts
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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