The next generation of partnerships: Making CTIPs work for climate, industry, and development

In March, the European Union launched negotiations for the first Clean Trade and Investment Partnership (CTIP) with South Africa. CTIPs seek to boost the EU's geoeconomic role in the world, bolster competitiveness, and secure supply chains while concluding mutually beneficial agreements. 

South Africa will serve as a proof of concept of the EU's industrial partnerships offer by structuring investments and enabling timely off-take agreements to allow for certainty and clear demand signals. Our new joint analysis, conducted with ECDPM, E3G, Europe Jacques Delors, Germanwatch e.V., IDDRI, and NewClimate Institute, identifies some recommendations to ensure it turns into a paradigm shift: 

• Set clear targets and align priorities to define measurable outcomes that benefit both sides.
• Leverage South Africa’s strengths: use its role in BRICS, Sub-Saharan trade networks, and green industrial ambitions.
• Boost finance for decarbonisation to support hydrogen and clean tech investment with public and private funding.
• Ensure predictable off-take, commit to multi-year purchases of critical materials and co-invest in local processing.
• Support regulatory alignment to help meet EU standards, including CBAM, and provide technical guidance for carbon pricing.

CTIPs offer the EU a unique opportunity to step up as a stable and reliable partner amid geopolitical turmoil while tackling its geoeconomic dependencies. Success will hinge on identifying joint priorities, defining finance at scale, and focusing on key strategic investments, with early benchmarks before committing to a wider series. Coupled with continued domestic climate action and delivering its fair share of finance, the EU can strengthen credibility on the multilateral stage and advance sustainable development globally.