BusinessEurope Supports Clean Trade and Investment Partnership with South Africa

Strategic Insights -

BusinessEurope, the largest and most influential voice of EU employers, has issued a statement in support of the launch of negotiations towards a Clean Trade and Investment Partnership (CTIP) between the EU and South Africa. The CTIP, announced at the eight EU-South Africa summit on March 13, 2025, aims to enhance trade and investment between the two parties, particularly in the clean tech and energy sectors.

According to BusinessEurope, the CTIP should focus on key areas, including enhancing trade in South Africa's resources, increasing cooperation on waste management and the circular economy, and contributing to the EU's economic security by diversifying import sources for raw materials.

Key Takeaways:

  • BusinessEurope fully supports the launch of CTIP negotiations with South Africa, highlighting the country's rich concentration of key critical raw materials essential for the global energy transition.
  • The CTIP should unlock greater access to South Africa's resources, providing assistance and finance to help the country refine and add value locally to its own resources.
  • BusinessEurope calls for increased cooperation on waste management and the circular economy, as it can be expected to become an important source of raw materials in the future.
  • The CTIP should aim to contribute to the EU's economic security by further diversifying import sources for raw materials.
  • Currently, unreliable rail infrastructure is a major barrier affecting offtakers of South African raw materials, and the CTIP should focus on rail corridors that are key for transporting raw materials to ports.
  • The CTIP should enhance the existing trade and investment relationship within the EU-Southern Africa Development Community Economic Partnership Agreement.
  • BusinessEurope highlights European business' main priorities in regard to what the objectives sought from this new agreement should be, including market opening mechanisms, further elimination of non-tariff barriers, and services restrictions in clean tech.
  • The approach of the agreement should be broad and technology-neutral, covering both goods and services, regulatory cooperation in different sectors, and investments that can be used in clean tech.
  • South Africa has been implementing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement during the past years, but the operation of the single window is only foreseen to be definitely implemented by 2028, offering an opportunity to speedup this process with support from the EU.
  • BusinessEurope calls for facilitating investment by exploring joint trade and investment promotion activities in the clean tech sector and related (upstream) value chains.
  • The CTIP should support industry by creating synergies with South Africa's Industrial Strategy, which has identified automotive, chemicals, manufacturing, and mining as key focus areas for economic growth.
  • BusinessEurope emphasizes the importance of supporting industry and facilitating investment in energy projects, including the development of renewable energy projects and critical transmission infrastructure.

Statistics:

  • South Africa has large reserves of manganese and vanadium, critical to the lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles and renewable energy grids.
  • South Africa is a key supplier of Phosphorus/Phosphate Rock (including rare igneous phosphate), Platinum Group Metals, and Fluorspar, relevant for a diverse range of EU industries and different clean tech value chains.
  • The EU's Critical Raw Materials Act aims to further diversify import sources for raw materials, highlighting the importance of the CTIP in achieving this goal.
  • South Africa has been implementing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement during the past years, but the operation of the single window is only foreseen to be definitely implemented by 2028.
  • BusinessEurope highlights the importance of facilitating investment in energy projects, including the development of renewable energy projects and critical transmission infrastructure.

Sources:

  • BusinessEurope views on a Clean Trade and Investment Partnership (CTIP) with South Africa (September 2025)

+ https://www.businesseurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025-09-BusinessEurope-views-on-a-CTIP-with-South-Africa.pdf