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)

TeleSUR | 16-Nov-2016
The oil giant Chevron Texaco and its decades-long battle to avoid paying damages it owes in one of the worst environmental disasters in history.
Alternet | 16-Nov-2016
Our trade agreements—current and proposed—don’t send the right signals for the U.S. and other countries to meet their Paris commitments.
IPS | 14-Nov-2016
Organizaciones ambientalistas no bajan la guardia en su lucha contra las operaciones de la corporación minera transnacional OceanaGold, que acaba de perder un litigio contra El Salvador pero que no da visos de renunciar al negocio extractivo en este país centroamericano.
Reuters | 10-Nov-2016
A battle over plans to build a huge gold mine in Rosia Montana, a Romanian village boasting intact Roman mining shafts and 18th century houses, has moved to an international stage.
African Manager | 8-Nov-2016
Le différend Tunisie-Lundin s’oriente à pas sûr vers la résolution. Les termes d’un accord à l’amiable ne sont pas encore connus, car n’étant pas encore officiels.
Investig’action | 7-Nov-2016
Reconnue coupable d’avoir provoqué des dommages environnementaux et humanitaires pendant des décennies, Chevron s’est vu verser 112 millions de dollars d’indemnisation par l’État équatorien avec l’aide d’un tribunal arbitral.
Alter Infos | 4-Nov-2016
Au terme de sept ans d’un processus d’arbitrage lancé par Oceana Gold le différend a été tranché en faveur de l’État salvadorien.
Espace Manager | 1-Nov-2016
Le groupe pétrolier suédois, Lundin, a fait condamner la Tunisie à lui verser 20 millions d’euros de dédommagement devant le tribunal arbitral Cirdi, mais ne parvient pas à en obtenir le règlement.
Inequality | 28-Oct-2016
In a tale of people power over corporate power, a tribunal has ruled against a global company in a case over mining rights. Now we need to block trade deals that allow these “investor-state” lawsuits.
VOA | 20-Oct-2016
Protests against the Rosia Montana mine project continued for more than 15 years and resulted in the largest demonstrations in Romania since the late 1980’s.