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)

Express Tribune | 21-Oct-2019
International institutions, through high-level backdoor contacts, have agreed to waive off the $1.2 billion penalty Pakistan has to pay to Turkey’s Karkey, senior lawyer Babar Awan said.
Euractiv | 21-Oct-2019
A global rise in investor lawsuits against nation-sates is putting climate protection laws under threat, activists warn.
CIAR Global | 18-Oct-2019
En esta ocasión, las demandantes encabezadas por la holandesa The Williams Companies International Holdings B.V., cambian de despacho en relación a la demanda de arbitraje que interpusieron en 2011 también ante el CIADI.
CIAR Global | 16-Oct-2019
El Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas (MEF) peruano ha comunicado la contratación de un despacho internacional para enfrentar la defensa en el arbitraje iniciado por Latam Hydro y CH Mamacocha.
CIAR Global | 16-Oct-2019
La compañía de energías renovables VM Solar Jerez junto a otros cinco demandantes alemanes han presentado la demanda de arbitraje de inversiones número 35 por las reformas energéticas, relacionadas con las renovables.
Business Recorder | 16-Oct-2019
The Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and the Attorney General for Pakistan are meeting with the company’s board.
La Croix | 16-Oct-2019
Les recours par des entreprises à des arbitrages juridiques quand le respect de normes sociales ou environnementales compromet leur quête de profit sont de plus en plus fréquents.
CIAR Global | 7-Oct-2019
Perenco presentó el 1 de octubre de 2019 una solicitud de ejecución en un tribunal estadounidense del laudo del arbitraje conocido el pasado 27 de septiembre; mientras Ecuador ha presentado una solicitud de anulación ante CIADI.
Prensa Libre | 2-Oct-2019
Compañía gana el caso por las pérdidas que le significó una reducción en el monto a cobrar a los usuarios que fijó la máxima autoridad guatemalteca en materia energética.
Collectif Stop Tafta | 2-Oct-2019
19 organisations de la société civile ont appelé les États membres de l’UE à quitter le Traité de la Charte de l’énergie.