Trade, Sustainable Development and Climate Change: How Can Free Trade Agreements Be Leveraged for Increased Climate Action? Perspectives on the EU-MERCOSUR Agreement

This article examines the status quo of the negotiations of the European Union (EU)-Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) Association Agreement (AA)'s Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapter, and explores alternatives to strengthen its climate change provisions in line with precedents of higher standards included in other recent free trade agreements (FTAs), in particular those signed by the EU. After thirty-eight rounds of negotiations, progress has been made in the Draft EU-MERCOSUR FTA. However, core aspects such as environmental and climate change commitments remain challenging and less progressive than those contained in more recent FTAs. This article draws from MERCOSUR countries' climate commitments expressed in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and explores pathways for strengthening climate change related provisions. These include changes that could be proposed during the legal scrubbing phase of the agreement, considering precedents where this was done, and further changes that could be included as an interpretative declaration, memorandum of understanding, or side letter attached to the agreement - one however that is agreed by both sides and that effectively addresses climate and environmental concerns.