Brussels – June 19th, 2023
The Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO), in partnership with Fairtrade International (FI) and the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), has released a new paper that calls upon the European Commission to work on transforming the European Green Deal into a Global Green Deal.
The European Green Deal doesn’t fundamentally challenge the EU trade policy and particularly the free trade agreement model, which has proven to be ineffective in fostering the transition towards more sustainable and climate-neutral supply chains and in creating equal benefits for all trading partners. Similarly, the European Green Deal doesn’t fundamentally challenge the constantly growing EU consumption of imported goods and services which gives rise to negative spillover effects in producing countries. The EU is the region in the world generating the largest amount of negative spillover effects in producing countries.
The European Green Deal addresses some of these spillover effects (notably through the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and the Deforestation regulation) but there is an absolute need for more comprehensive and structural measures towards a Global Green Deal. Mainstreaming Fair Trade approaches and Fair Trade Enterprises (SMEs) can be part of the solution, lead to multiple benefits, and facilitate the achievement of the 2030 SD Agenda.
Read and download the paper: Transforming the European Green Deal into a Global Green Deal – the Role of Fair Trade, by clicking here.
