Energy & environment

Most investor-state disputes (ISDS) have concerned environmental matters. Corporations are using the ISDS system found in trade and investment agreements to challenge environmental policies. As of end of 2019, 41% of all ICSID cases were energy and natural resources-related.

Most well-known cases include:

• Lone Pine Resources (US) vs. Canada: the investor challenged Quebec’s moratorium on the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas. The provincial government declared the moratorium in 2011 so as to conduct an environmental impact assessment of the extraction method widely accused of leaching chemicals and gases into groundwater and the air. Case pending (NAFTA invoked).

• Bilcon (US) vs. Canada: the US industry challenged Canadian environmental requirements affecting their plans to open a basalt quarry and a marine terminal in Nova Scotia. In 2015 the ISDS tribunal decided that the government’s decision hindered the investors’ expectations. Bilcon won and received US$7 million in damages, plus interest (NAFTA invoked).

• Vattenfall (Sweden) vs. Germany: in 2007 the Swedish energy corporation was granted a provisional permit to build a coal-fired power plant near the city of Hamburg. In an effort to protect the Elbe river from the waste waters dumped from the plant, environmental restrictions were added before the final approval of its construction. The investor initiated a dispute, arguing it would make the project unviable. The case was ultimately settled in 2011, with the city of Hamburg agreeing to the lowering of environmental standards (ECT invoked).

Photo: Kris Krug / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

(March 2020)

Noticias Caracol | 20-Dec-2018
El Estado respondió así a la indemnización de 1.626 millones de pesos que exigió la multinacional española por la intervención de la empresa de servicios públicos.
Total Croatia News | 20-Dec-2018
Many see the withdrawal of the lawsuit as a tactical move whereby MOL wants to additionally strengthen its position in ongoing arbitration proceedings it launched in Washington in 2013.
The Conversation | 19-Dec-2018
Westmoreland Coal is suing Canada because it did not receive a transition payment following Alberta’s coal phaseout plan. For the province, coal mining companies have no role to play in the energy transition.
The Guardian | 17-Dec-2018
Global corporations should not have special legal rights to undermine the policies of democratically elected governments.
CIAR Global | 14-Dec-2018
El conflicto está relacionado con la suspensión del proyecto de minería de oro Tambor, en San José del Golfo y San Pedro Ayampuc, y la reclamación estaría cifrada en 300 millones de dólares.
Argus | 14-Dec-2018
Former Canadian mining company Crystallex has resumed efforts to auction shares of Venezuelan-controlled US refiner Citgo and accused Caracas of breaching an earlier settlement to stave off the sale.
AP | 14-Dec-2018
Westwater Resources, an energy materials development company, announced the filing of a request for arbitration against the Republic of Turkey for the taking of its Temrezli and Şefaatli uranium projects in June 2018.
Kluwer Arbitration Blog | 14-Dec-2018
Tribunals still grappling with the intra-EU question, especially those in ECT cases, are certain to pay great attention to the carefully crafted Vattenfall decision. Its reasoning may well serve as a blueprint for further decisions and awards in similar cases.
CIAR | 12-Dec-2018
El pasado 30 de noviembre, la compañía neerlandesa Aram Asset Management notificó su intención de acudir a arbitraje de inversiones contra el Gobierno de Perú en relación con la expropiación de sus negocios de comercialización de oro en 2013.
KolectiVOZ Digital | 7-Dec-2018
Entrevista con Pablo Fajardo, abogado ambientalista de los demandantes a Chevron Texaco en Ecuador, quién nos cuenta sus actuales preocupaciones sobre el caso.