netcdf-c version 4.10.0 would be required for conda-forge installed cdo and python-cdo, to play nice with the latest versions of PCMDI/cmor, which is important for CMIP7 and NOAA-GFDL/fre-cli as it uses both PCMDI/cmor and cdo/python-cdo in places.
if compatibility is not possible, i have to advocate for deprecation of use of cdo and python-cdo in NOAA-GFDL/fre-cli to facilitate PCMDI/cmor updates, but I would prefer to not have to.