CTIps: An opportunity to advance Just Transition?
The “WHY”
The announcement of new Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships (CTIPs) in President von der Leyen’s 2024-2029 Guidelines, can offer a significant opportunity to forge mutually beneficial partnerships that deliver tangible environmental, social, and developmental gains to partner countries. Not much is known about what these CTIPs will look like or how they will be structured. We know that the Commission intends to develop the CTIPs as a complement to Free Trade Agreements, envisioned to be faster, more flexible, and more targeted tailored to the concrete interests of both EU businesses and their global partners. As outlined in the Clean Industrial Deal (CID), they are expected to focus on strategic supply chains, particularly in critical raw materials, clean energy, and clean technologies. This has been further confirmed during the talks for the first CTIP that von der Leyen launched with South Africa on March the 13th, where the President announced that the partnership will support investments in clean energy, raw materials and green hydrogen.
According to what has been affirmed in the CID and by Commissioner Šefčovič during its hearing, by leveraging CTIPs, the EU can offer an alternative model of cooperation based on mutual benefit and local development.
Risk and Opportunities
However, as already flagged in some commentaries published on the CTIPs (see Europe Jacques Delors (2025) “A new era of EU mini-trade deals?” and New Climate Institute (2024), “Shaping Strong EU Partnerships”) significant omissions remain in the approach that has been presented by the Commission. By framing CTIPs predominantly as instruments to advance the EU’s economic and political interests, the risk is that they will only be a fancy new name for the old green extractivism. As noted in the abovementioned studies, the Clean Industrial Deal misses a vital opportunity to link these partnerships to broader sustainable development objectives, including the Agenda 2030, and fails in explaining how CTIPs will bring value-addition in partner countries, in terms of promotion of human rights, labour rights, and high social and environmental standards.
Despite this, we consider that the CTIPs could represent an opportunity for the EU to redefine its global partnerships. In SOLIDAR view, this would require that the new CTIPs underpin Just Transition’s principles and embed policy coherence for development. With binding commitments to sustainability, human and labour rights, environmental protection, and social development, the EU can distinguish its approach from other global powers, offering a model that not only serves its economic interests but also promotes sustainable development and a just transition in partner countries.
By ensuring that CTIPs are co-developed and responsive to local priorities in partner countries, the EU can build genuine partnerships that facilitate local value addition. This can be achieved through integrated offers of technical and financial assistance, driven by the priorities and needs of developing countries. Focusing on technology and skills transfer is crucial for advancing industrialization and climate objectives in these regions.
And finally, effective implementation of CTIPs also requires active engagement with civil society and trade unions both in the EU and partner countries, which can ensure transparent monitoring of the agreements and provide regular advice, fostering mutual trust and accountability. This will require efficient resource allocation, to ensure meaningful inclusion and representation of stakeholders from both sides.
SOLIDAR views
At SOLIDAR we believe that, by embedding commitments to sustainability, human rights, and local value creation, and by tailoring its partnerships on the specific needs of the countries involved, the EU can ensure these CTIPs are ethical, effective, and mutually beneficial. Through its Global Just Transition campaign, SOLIDAR will keep engaging with its members and partners to ensure that CTIPs will meet these objectives.
