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)

Reuters | 23-Jul-2016
Ecuador has paid $112 million to energy company Chevron Corp over a four-decade-old contract dispute, even though it remains in disagreement, the head of the central bank has said.
Reuters | 19-Jul-2016
A World Bank panel rejected a lawsuit filed against Peru by New York-based Renco Group Inc on technical grounds.
El Comercio | 18-Jul-2016
Controversia se relaciona a operaciones y medidas de remediación ambiental en el complejo metalúrgico, precisó el MEF.
Equities | 15-Jul-2016
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that Centerra Gold shares are the property of Kyrgyzaltyn JSC not the Kyrgyz Republic.
The Economic Times | 13-Jul-2016
Cairn Plc has claimed compensation of $5.6 billion from India in legal proceedings against the retrospective tax demand.
CSR Strategy Group | 8-Jul-2016
Chevron shareholders remain wary of the risks from an $11 billion judgment against the company in Ecuador. They also continue to be critical of Chevron management’s mishandling of the case.
AFL-CIO | 29-Jun-2016
Brooke Guven (Colombia Center on Sustainable Investment) talks about investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) at AFL-CIO conference on trade.
Métro | 27-Jun-2016
La société TransCanada réclame au gouvernement américain plus de 15 milliards $ en dédommagement pour son refus d’autoriser le projet d’oléoduc Keystone XL.
Financial Post | 27-Jun-2016
TransCanada Corp. made good on its threat to challenge the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, filing a request for arbitration under NAFTA to recoup US$15 billion in damages from the U.S. government.
Listin Diario | 24-Jun-2016
A raíz de este proceso el Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales está revisando todos los procedimientos relativos a las autorizaciones ambientales con la finalidad de actualizarlos.