Workshop - 3 and 4 July 2025
The greening of trade as a way out of the polycrises? Regress, reforms and rebuilding international cooperation in the environment-trade nexus
The workshop included four keynote speeches from Aarti Krishnan (development economics), James Harrison (law), Maria-Therese Gustafsson (political science), and Chris West (ecology), a Meet the editors session with Yixian Sun (Global Environmental Politics), Judith Krauss (Journal of Political Ecology), and James Harrison (Journal of International Economic Law) as well as 38 paper presentations by early career researchers on the nexus between climate, biodiversity, energy and trade.
The workshop was hosted by Paulina Flores Martinez, Tony Heron (York University) and co-organised by Charline Depoorter (University of Basel), Scott Hamilton (Antwerp University), and Simon Happersberger (VUB-Brussels School of Governance). The event was supported by the University of Basel, the University of Antwerp, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, UNU-CRIS, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, the York Environmental Sustainability Institute and the Ecovalence chair.
Trade Defense Instruments TDI2024 Conference 6 December 2024
https://www.brussels-school.be/output/events/tdi-yearly-2024
Welcome to TDI Yearly 2024 conference!
2024 is set to be a year to remember in EU trade policy. The EU is in full swing in implementing its Trade Strategy, striking a balance between assertive action and promoting and respecting the WTO rules-based order. The TDI toolbox is applied in new areas vital to the EU’s competitiveness and green transition, notably Electric Vehicles (EVs), while new trade instruments, in particular the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), are being tested in practice. All this is taking place in a tense political context: the EU elections are paving the way for a new Commission to take office in the autumn, and the US presidential election on 5 November is shaping the geopolitical landscape.
The seventh edition of TDI Yearly Conference, organised by 3E Research Centre of the Brussels School of Governance (BSoG) in collaboration with DG Trade and leading Brussels trade law firms, promises to be an exciting one. TDI 2024 conference will take stock of EVs, FSR and multiple other topics regarding the practice of the Commission, the EU Courts and the WTO in 2024 with practitioners working at the coal face of trade defence both for the Union industry and exporters to the Union.
The welcoming words will be delivered by Karel de Gucht, BSoG President and EU Trade Commissioner (2014-2019) and the Key note by Director Martin Lukas of DG Trade. The speakers include e.g. Anna Marcoulli (President of the 2nd Chamber, EU General Court), Clare Brodie (Executive Director, UK Trade Remedies Authority), multiple representatives of the European Commission as well as TDI practitioners involved in the most topical cases.
The event will take place on Thursday 12 December. The space in the conference room is limited to 100 people, filled on first-come-first-served basis, so make sure to secure your place for the presentations and the networking by registering through the link below. It will also be possible to participate online.
Workshop - 5 December 2024
In the current global order, geopolitics and geo-economics have become dominant forces and the global trading system is going through its most challenging times yet. At the same time, global environmental challenges are more urgent than ever, with seven of nine planetary boundaries exceeded in 2023 and the safe operating space for humanity in decline. In 2024, half of the world’s population can have their say on the situation, as elections are held in 80 countries across the globe. The results will have a direct impact on international trade cooperation and on action to stem the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. What does all this mean for the trade policies of the European Union?
To answer these and other questions, the Remaking Trade for a Sustainable Future Project (RTP) joins forces with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, the Brussels School of Governance of VUB and E3G to host an expert conference in Brussels featuring leading European and world specialists on trade and sustainability to be held on Thursday 5 December 2024 at the “U-Residence” at VUB in Brussels!
Early Career Workshop - 15 June 2023
International trade is increasingly shaped by environmental challenges and geo-economic tensions. States and non-state actors pursue policy instruments with substantive trade- and environmental implications such as the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, the European Green Deal, the US Inflation Reduction Act, Indonesia’s export ban on palm oil, or corporate sustainability standards. The features and interactions of these instruments as well as their consequences for environmental and trade goals, interests, and impacts are still poorly understood.
This workshop aims to critically reflect on these developments and related policy instruments in the trade-environment-nexus. We will address questions across different levels of governance and sectors such as:
- Which designs and instruments are effective in achieving environmental and trade aims?
- How do current geo-economic tensions in trade affect the ecological transformation?
- How do current ecological transitions and transformations and crises affect international trade?
- How legitimate are instruments in the trade-environment-nexus from the perspective of different actors?
- How do public and private actors govern long-term sustainability goals with short-term geopolitical challenges and economic interests?
- How do different actors envision and implement notions environmental and social justice in the trade-environment-nexus?
Organised by: Simon Happersberger (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Asgeir Barlaup (KU Leuven) and Paulina Flores Martinez (University of York)
