Declaration for a bi-regional partnership centred on a just transition
Despite the EU’s growing emphasis on sustainability, its trade and investment policies remain largely disconnected from social and climate objectives. In its relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, extractivist models continue to dominate, keeping the region as a raw materials supplier and limiting local value creation, which perpetuates dependency and harms the environment, social and labour rights. At the same time, EU–LAC relations are entering a new phase. In the context of multiple global crises and the urgent need for green and digital transitions, Latin America and the Caribbean have become strategic partners for Europe, especially in renewable energy and critical raw materials.
To catch the momentum, over the past four months, SOLIDAR has carried out a broad consultative process, with diverse civil society actors and trade unions to draft a proposal on how this new EU-LAC partnership should look like. This process culminated in a Declaration for a Just Transition centred biregional partnership, endorsed by more than 40 civil society organizations and trade unions, demanding the two regions to promote a new trade model that supports a global just transition toward low-carbon, inclusive, rights-based, and peaceful economies, aligned with climate justice, social equity, and sustainable development. To achieve these aims, trade agreements and investments must prioritise environmental protection, human rights, and inequality reduction, fully supporting the Sustainable Development Goals. States need to lead this transition through public policies that include removing harmful subsidies, cutting military spending, and redirecting resources toward decent work, sustainable development, clean energy, and essential public services.
SOLIDAR’s Declaration revolves around three key demands:
- Strengthen the environment – human development – trade nexus, ensuring a win-win for people and the planet
Trade and investment should be tools to achieve social and environmental goals, moving beyond extractivism toward a fairer, sustainable partnership with strong labour, human rights, and environmental commitments. This requires rigorous impact assessments, effective due diligence, and economic benefits that support formal economies, social protection, decent work with a gender perspective, and fair prices for smallholders to enable sustainable, ecosystem-friendly practices.
- Foster equitable technology transfer and sustainable, low-emission industrial development
Trade agreements should ensure equitable access to green technologies and support skills development in both regions, as part of a just transition. This includes strategic partnerships on research, innovation, and technology transfer in renewable energy, low-carbon industries, and circular economy solutions, with limits on EU raw material consumption. Cooperation should build sustainable local value chains, strengthen technological and energy sovereignty, and align investments, like the Global Gateway, with local needs and community-led initiatives.
- Guarantee inclusive participation and rights protection in trade and investment governance
Civil society must be involved from the start of any trade agreements, investments, and Global Gateway projects. To ensure this, the EU and LAC should establish independent, inclusive, transparent, and well-resourced mechanisms for participation, including Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs) with consultative, monitoring, and enforcement powers. Rights of affected communities must be guaranteed, decision-making should be transparent, and investments must prioritize local democratic decision-making and allow communities to set development priorities reflecting their social, environmental, and cultural needs.
These demands we developed were also used to shape our contribution to the Civil Society Forum, co-organised by CSOs from both regions, the European Commission’s DG INTPA and the Colombian government, held in the days ahead of the IV EU-CELAC Summit in Santa Marta, Colombia. The Forum concluded with the publication of a Civil Society Declaration, that incorporates several of the key demands and priorities we have long been advocating for, including binding clauses on human, labour and environmental rights in any trade, investment and Global Gateway (GG) agreements, reporting mechanisms and civil society involvement as strategic partners in the design and monitoring of such agreements, and the important point that the Global Gateway must complement rather than replace traditional ODA, while truly addressing local priorities beyond infrastructure.
You can still sign and support the Declaration till December the 7th, via this link or by scanning the QR code:
