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)

IISD | 20-Sep-2019
This claim to the long series of cases arising out of Italy’s reform of its scheme of incentive tariffs for solar energy.
IISD | 20-Sep-2019
Cette affaire vient élarger la longue liste d’affaires découlant de la réforme menée par l’Italie de son mécanisme d’octroi de tarifs préférentiels dans l’énergie solaire.
Alternatives Economiques | 20-Sep-2019
Un nouveau cas de litige entre investisseurs étrangers et Etats se profile dans le cadre du Traité sur la Charte de l’énergie, à l’origine de nombreuses affaires qui ont défrayé la chronique en Europe.
Cinco Días | 16-Sep-2019
Schwab Holding y OperaFund Ecoinvest ganan un laudo arbitral.
CIAR Global | 16-Sep-2019
La empresa española Orazul International España Holdings SL ha presentado una demanda de arbitraje contra Argentina en virtud del Tratado Bilateral de Inversiones (TBI) Argentina-España.
AFTINET | 16-Sep-2019
German company Uniper has threatened to bring an ISDS case against the Dutch government after a decision to ban coal-based power generation by 2030.
Energy Voice | 12-Sep-2019
The European Commission is taking steps to reduce the prospect of future claims by demanding the reform of the Energy Charter Treaty.
Outlook India | 10-Sep-2019
UK’s Cairn Energy on Tuesday said the arbitration process against India on imposition of retrospective tax demand is likely to be protracted and a decision is not expected before late 2019.
Business Recorder | 10-Sep-2019
Pakistan government is going to challenge the verdicts of International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), said Minister for Power Division.
El Confidencial | 5-Sep-2019
El Centro Internacional de Arreglo de Diferencias Relativas a Inversores (Ciadi) ha dictado un nuevo laudo contra España. Los inversores ingleses reclamaban 92 millones de euros.