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)

ABC News | 11-Mar-2024
The Romanian government has won a years long legal dispute with a Canadian mining company seeking damages over failed plans to open a gold and silver mine in the Eastern European country.
SOMO | 8-Mar-2024
Oil Refiner Klesch sues EU, Germany and Denmark over windfall profit tax while making record profits due to Ukraine invasion.
Euractiv | 8-Mar-2024
Les Vingt-Sept ont approuvé le retrait coordonné de l’UE du traité international sur la charte de l’Énergie, jugé trop protecteur des investissements dans les énergies fossiles et que de nombreux pays, dont la France, ont déjà annoncé vouloir quitter.
Reuters | 8-Mar-2024
European Union countries agreed to jointly quit an international energy treaty over concerns that it undermines efforts to fight climate change, officials said.
Canada’s National Observer | 5-Mar-2024
A proposed Canada-Ecuador free trade agreement could put corporate interests above citizens’ rights, say several concerned organizations.
Friends of the Earth Europe | 4-Mar-2024
Today marks a significant turning point as the Belgian EU Presidency brokered a deal with the European Commission and member states on the withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty.
La Presse | 4-Mar-2024
Une société minière dont le siège social est au Canada réclame au moins 20 milliards par voie d’arbitrage international à la suite de la fermeture de sa mine de cuivre au Panamá.
Connaissance des Energies | 4-Mar-2024
Un tribunal néerlandais a rejeté un appel de la Russie contre une sentence arbitrale record de 50 milliards de dollars, ouvrant la voie à un paiement aux ex-actionnaires de l’ancien géant pétrolier Ioukos.
ABC | 4-Mar-2024
An Amsterdam court has rejected Russia’s final argument in a years-long legal battle over a $50 billion arbitration award.
RFI | 4-Mar-2024
Le Royaume-Uni a annoncé se retirer du traité sur la Charte de l’énergie et c’est une bonne nouvelle pour le climat. Ce traité permet en effet à une entreprise polluante de poursuivre en justice un Etat si elle juge que sa politique lui est préjudiciable.