Skip to main content
Trade
News article10 February 2022BrusselsDirectorate-General for Trade

Commission publishes analysis of trade and sustainable development policies around the world

The European Commission is today publishing a new study on global approaches to trade and sustainable development (TSD) as part of its work to strengthen environmental and sustainability aspects of EU trade policy.

The independent study, carried out by the London School of Economics, covers the EU, Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the US. It reveals that TSD implementation and enforcement vary significantly, for example when it comes to dispute settlement and the use of trade remedies in case of breaches of TSD provisions. Despite such differences, cooperation remains the watchword for TSD implementation, even for countries that rely on trade sanctions for TSD enforcement.

Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade, said: “We are always working on making trade policy better. This is why we are now reviewing whether we need to recalibrate our approach to sustainability in our trade and investment agreements. Today’s independent analysis, together with the contributions to our public consultation, gives us valuable input on what our stakeholders at home want, and what our partners around the world are actually doing on the ground. It shows that positive engagement can be most effective in bringing about positive and sustainable change. The study also demonstrates that TSD policy is dynamic and fast developing and should be tailored to specific contexts. We are now ready to take this forward to make trade policy better, stronger and more sustainable.”

Read the report 
More on the open public consultation

More documents

Final report of the comparative study

Factsheets of the comparative study:

Interim report of the comparative study
Inception report of the comparative study

Details

Publication date
10 February 2022
Author
Directorate-General for Trade
Location
Brussels
Trade topics
Sustainable development