FTAO Advocates for a Stronger EU Consumer Agenda that Aligns with CUES Goals

The Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO), a key partner in CUES, has submitted a powerful response to the European Commission’s Consumer Agenda2025-2030, calling for policies that empower consumers to drive the green and just transition. This advocacy work directly mirrors CUES’s mission to promote sustainable consumption through education and stakeholder collaboration.

The FTAO has published its official feedback on the European Commission’s new Consumer Agenda, positioning itself at the forefront of the debate on the future of sustainable consumption in the EU. The FTAO’s response, titled “Embedding Fair Trade principles within the Consumer Agenda 2025-2030,” outlines critical recommendations that resonate deeply with the core objectives of the CUES Project.

The European Commission’s Consumer Agenda aims to shape EU consumer policy for the coming five years. The FTAO’s submission argues that for this agenda to be effective, it must move beyond a narrow focus on safety and information and actively enable consumers to make choices that support environmental sustainability and social justice.

Key FTAO recommendations that echo CUES aims:

The FTAO’s feedback highlights several areas of strong synergy with the CUES project:

1. Defining sustainable choices and sustainable products: The FTAO calls for the Consumer Agenda to explicitly recognise the inter-linkages and interactions between the environment, economic and social policies and help consumers identify and choose products that are ethically produced. This aligns perfectly with CUES’s work in developing educational tools and resources that help citizens understand the impact of their consumption choices and navigate the market for sustainable goods.
2. Empowering consumers to be drivers of sustainability: The FTAO calls on the Commission to ensure the upcoming Consumer Agenda leverages robust behavioural science and psychology research to design consumer-facing interventions that align with how people actually make sustainable decisions. Insights from the CUES project demonstrate that knowledge alone is insufficient policies must also shift norms, identities, emotional responses, and perceived control.
3. Addressing green- and fair-washing: The FTAO emphasises  the importance of promoting ambitious production standards across the European Union while communicating clearly to consumers about their sustainability impact. As a key priority of the CUES project, the FTAO also stresses the need to address the disconnect between sustainability rhetoric and genuine, enforceable consumer protection, tackling greenwashing through supportive infrastructures that strengthen consumer understanding and trust.

The advocacy work of the FTAO provides a crucial policy dimension to the practical and educational goals of the CUES project. While CUES develops curricula and engages with communities to build capacity for sustainable consumption, the FTAO works to ensure the EU’s policy framework supports and amplifies these efforts.

Read the full FTAO position paper here: Embedding Fair Trade principles within the Consumer Agenda 2025-2030