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The Making of the EU’s Approach to Sustainable Development (LAW-RT-EUSUST-26)

LAW-RT-EUSUST-26

Description

The aim of this seminar is to critically question the premise and institutional design underlying the linkage between sustainable development and the external economic regulation in the EU. By external economic regulation, we include trade, investment, corporate social responsibility obligations, and unilateral market regulation measures that affect trade. Most recently, considerations of sustainable development in the EU’s external economic regulation have been sidelined in favour of a focus on ‘economic security’. Yet, as the 2025 Competitiveness Compass of the European Commission shows, sustainable development continues to persist alongside these newer considerations. Linking trade and business regulation with environmental, labour and human rights objectives may be common practice in contemporary policy; however, this has not always been the case. Understanding sustainable development governance, therefore, requires a ‘look behind the curtains’: How did sustainable development enter EU external policy? How has the EU built its own sustainable development paradigm over the course of the past three decades? The findings developed over the course of this seminar regarding these two questions will seek to answer an overarching question: What does the history and regulatory design of EU sustainable development governance tell us about the interests and ideas that shape it?
With the introduction of the first Trade and Sustainability Chapter in its trade agreement with South Korea in 2009, the EU built on decades of discussions on sustainable development, which had started with the creation of the International Labour Organisation in 1919 and continued with social and environmental discussions at the World Trade Organisation and at the ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro in the 1990s. Re-defining earlier US practices in this field, the EU has developed a unique ecosystem of diverse economic governance tools linking external economic regulation with sustainability objectives. It has concluded trade and investment agreements featuring sustainable development obligations, and has developed a diverse framework for responsible business conduct through measures such as CBAM, the EUDR, the CSDDD and others, with implications beyond its borders.

Learning outcomes
The expected learning outcomes of this seminar are:

• A comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the origin and debates surrounding the linkage between economic tools and sustainable development objectives;
• An in-depth knowledge of EU trade/investment and sustainable development, as well as business and human rights instruments;
• A critical appreciation of the narratives around the EU’s approach to the linkage, the perspectives of different actors, and the shortcomings of the current framework;
• An ability to draw links between different relevant developments on the EU- and global levels;
• An ability to put recent EU developments in the area of trade, investment, and corporate social responsibility in their legal and political context;

First, Second & Third Term: registration from 21 to 25 September 2026

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