Transatlantic partners eye 'green marketplace' at summit
High level delegates from the EU and US will pledge to reinforce cooperation on clean energy markets after meeting for the sixth Trade and Technology Council (TTC) in Leuven tomorrow (4 April), according to draft conclusions seen by Euronews.
The sixth TTC is set to feature negotiations around sustainable trade, green marketplaces and public procurement, clean energy incentives and critical raw materials.
The gathering, which lasts until Friday (April 5), will be hosted by the Belgian EU Council Presidency and co-chaired by European Commissioners Margrethe Vestager and Valdis Dombrovskis, joined by Thierry Breton, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
The draft conclusions hail the Transatlantic Initiative on Sustainable Trade (TIST), launched at the third EU-US TTC meeting in December 2022, as a booster to “advanced cooperation” helping both sides to develop their green transition trade “in a mutually beneficial way”.
Green marketplace and public procurement
The partnership will now seek to identify more opportunities for transatlantic collaboration by promoting a green marketplace “boosting trade and supply chains” and targeting goods that “underpin the green transition”, according to the document .
The EU and the US want to “accelerate the uptake of more sustainable and greener solutions” in public procurements, to achieve “common environmental and climate goals”, the document read.
Creating a joint EU-US catalogue detailing best practices on green public procurement will be a first step set to be announced after the summit, according to the document. The aim is to identify and promote policy tools for accelerating the deployment of publicly financed sustainability projects in the EU and US.
Secure and sustainable transatlantic supply chains will help “reduce excessive dependencies” in economic activities relevant to the green transition, the transatlantic partnership will affirm.
“We intend to continue to cooperate on key supply chains, such as solar, to help us increase secure supply of clean energy,” read the joint statement, announcing an upcoming workshop to present ongoing initiatives to “promote innovative solutions in the management of sustainable supply chains”.
Critical minerals
A collaboration will be established on critical minerals with a view to “diversifying global critical minerals supply chains”, according to the document. EU and US lawmakers are set to announce that they intend to formalise and expand existing engagements through the Mineral Security Partnership, an association of countries seeking to secure a stable supply of raw materials established in September 2023.
From the leaked document, it appears that the parties hope to accept the adoption in principle of a Critical Minerals Agreement, however the leaked draft leaves open the notion of continuing negotiations.
The formation of the TTC was first announced by US President Joe Biden and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on June 2021, following the EU-US Summit held in Brussels. As both the EU and US will have elections this year, future meetings of the TTC will depend on new administrations both in the White House and the Commission.