CEENRG Thursday seminars: 'Contesting Europe’s green trade agenda: Mapping international responses to the EU’s CBAM and EUDR'

Speakers: Dr. Caroline Bertram (Carlsberg Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge) & Dr. Hermine van Coppenolle (Research associate, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge)

The Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy, and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG) is hosting a seminar series throughout the 2025-26 academic year.

The European Union (EU) has introduced two prominent unilateral trade-climate instruments, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR), as part of its broader economic-climate agenda. Portrayed as necessary to prevent carbon leakage and minimise the EU’s import-driven deforestation footprint, both instruments have generated widespread contestation among EU trade partners. To examine this contestation, we conduct a large-scale inductive discourse network analysis of over 500 meeting minutes from key bodies in the World Trade Organization between 2019 and 2025. Through the lens of international norm theory, we distinguish between contestation over norm frames (underlying principles and justifications) and claims (specific actions or policy prescriptions) to identify and classify contestation outcomes and map the geography of contestation surrounding the CBAM and EUDR across countries and through time.

Seminars take place as hybrid meetings (in person seminars in the DAB - David Attenborough Building + online in Zoom) every Thursday (please check precise time as may vary) during the term. Please register online to receive the Zoom link on the day of the seminar. Everyone is welcome!