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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The Tico Times | 1-Jul-2024
The Canadian mining company Infinito Gold has decided to drop a claim against Costa Rica for the failed Crucitas project in Cutris de San Carlos.
L’Opinion | 1-Jul-2024
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Azatutyun | 1-Jul-2024
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Armenews.com | 1-Jul-2024
Une société écran enregistrée à Chypre et détenant une participation minoritaire dans la plus grande entreprise minière d’Arménie a intenté une action en justice d’un montant de 1,2 milliard de dollars contre le gouvernement arménien.
Daily News Hungary | 27-Jun-2024
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L’Orient Le Jour | 27-Jun-2024
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Reuters | 25-Jun-2024
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Zone Bourse | 25-Jun-2024
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CIAR Global | 24-Jun-2024
La minera canadiense Silver Bull Resources exige 408 millones USD a México por daños y perjuicios en el arbitraje abierto ante el Centro Internacional de Arreglo de Diferencias relativas a Inversiones (CIADI).