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)

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La Republica | 23-Apr-2019
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In These Times | 23-Apr-2019
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Reporterre | 23-Apr-2019
Texaco — Et pourtant nous vaincrons, une nouvelle BD, relate l’histoire du désastre environnemental en Amazonie et de la lutte en justice des affectés.
The Guardian | 23-Apr-2019
Florida-based APR Energy sought compensation for treatment of its gas turbines.
Business Recorder | 22-Apr-2019
Pakistan government is reportedly in talks with the Turkish government and M/s Karkey for an out-of-court settlement to avert attachment of Pakistan’s properties in Europe
Armenian Weekly | 18-Apr-2019
The company’s Canadian and British subsidiaries have already announced their intention to initiate arbitration proceedings against Armenia in accordance with bilateral agreements if the matter is not resolved.
Reuters | 17-Apr-2019
Guaido’s special prosecutor said has challenged the amount of the ICSID award, claiming “the methodology to determine the compensation was errant.”
El Salto Diario | 16-Apr-2019
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SeeNews | 11-Apr-2019
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