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)

LAB | 19-Jul-2023
International Delegation stands with mining-affected people to urge administration of President Gustavo Petro to withdraw from corporate courts.
Proactive | 13-Jul-2023
The latest development was a decision on 11 July to lift a provisional stay of enforcement.
Silver Bull Resources, Inc. | 11-Jul-2023
The arbitration arises from Mexico’s expropriation and other treatment of Silver Bull and its investments resulting from the illegal blockade of Silver Bull’s Sierra Mojada project.
Novethic | 11-Jul-2023
La Commission européenne a proposé de sortir de cet accord, considéré comme une épée de Damoclès pour la transition énergétique du continent. Alors que dix pays ont annoncé qu’ils se retiraient du Traité, l’étau se resserre.
CAN Europe | 11-Jul-2023
We call on you to support the Commission’s proposal for a coordinated withdrawal of the EU and all its member states from the Energy Charter Treaty and welcome a discussion of the ECT among energy ministers.
The Guardian | 11-Jul-2023
Climate Change Committee recommends leaving energy charter treaty, which critics say is ‘weaponised’ by fossil fuel firms.
The Guardian | 11-Jul-2023
Clive Palmer’s Zeph Investment’s second case against Australia is a $41.3bn claim that it breached the Asean free trade agreement in relation to coal exploration permits, it has emerged.
No a los TCI | 10-Jul-2023
Queremos pedirles que apoyen la propuesta de la Comisión Europea para iniciar una salida coordinada de la Unión Europea (UE) y de todos sus Estados miembro del Tratado de la Carta de la Energía (TCE), y que acojan un debate sobre el TCE entre los Ministros de Energía en el seno de dicho encuentro.
Euractiv | 10-Jul-2023
The European Commission proposed that EU countries jointly quit an international treaty that has been criticised for blocking efforts to fight climate change because its protection of energy investments extends to fossil fuels.
AFTINET | 10-Jul-2023
In response to a call from the UN, legal experts have released a submission outlining the dangers of Investor-State Dispute Settlement on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.