“With environmental sustainability gaining traction, it is imperative to assess its integration in Regional Trade Agreements. In this context, this paper sought to assess the integration of environmental sustainability in Regional Trade Agreements in Africa. Two Regional Trade
Agreements, the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the European – Africa, Caribbean Pacific (EU-ACP) partnership, were analysed. Actors engaged in environmental sustainability within these two agreements were mapped: orchestrators, intermediaries and
targets. The results indicate: environmental sustainability has been increasingly integrated into the agreements; developed country partners of both agreements have taken lead in orchestrating environmental sustainability, with developing and least developed countries as the targets; the
EU-ACP has integrated environmental sustainability to a larger extent than AGOA. This paper concludes that developing and least developed member countries in Regional Trade Agreements need to be further mainstreamed with a more prominent role towards the realisation of the
environmental sustainability dimension.”
