Responding to the EU Green Deal: A Proactive Approach to Trade and Green Industrial Policy in Africa

Abstract

The EU Green Deal and its host of accompanying trade measures have put its trading partners on the defense, scrambling to find the right policy response. The approach adopted by many developing countries and Least-Developed Countries (LDCs) is mostly reactive. This article argues that for the EU Green Deal to be used as a development tool, EU trading partners must go beyond reacting to EU green trade measures, and instead adopt a proactive approach. This would effectively entail linking a changing EU market economy that is increasingly focused on sustainability objectives, to development and climate priorities in the EU trading partner. This article illustrates what a proactive approach to the EU Green Deal could look like for African countries, with a focus on the EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). It further puts forth the argument for leveraging legal frameworks such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and charts policies that serve African interests. For both the ESPR and CRMA, this article makes policy recommendations that African countries may consider when framing domestic policy approaches, well as in their engagements with international partners.