CEERNG: The political geography of contestation: Mapping the international contestation of the EU's CBAM and EUDR

Abstract

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.