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)

The Moscow Times | 7-Dec-2020
The Netherlands’ top court ruled that shareholders in dismantled oil giant Yukos can continue to pursue Russia for $50 billion in compensation pending a final judgement in a long legal saga.
Mining Watch | 4-Dec-2020
Barrick is offering the government of Papua New Guinea to pause legal proceedings upon signing of a framework agreement to reverse the decision not to grant it a licence renewal for its former Porgera mine.
EU Observer | 4-Dec-2020
The European Commission has confirmed for the first time that Brussels could withdraw from the controversial Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), which critics say shields the fossil-fuel industry.
Premium Times | 23-Nov-2020
The groups said they are concerned about the ICSID’s long-standing failure to promulgate clear rules for addressing cases where corruption has been alleged.
Global Arbitration News | 18-Nov-2020
The district court determined that granting the stay pending the decision of the ICSID annulment committee was proper in this case.
El Ciudadano | 13-Nov-2020
Los tratados de libre comercio nos condenan a producir y exportar en forma permanente cobre, frutas, maderas y otros pocos recursos naturales con escaso grado de manufacturación, y adquirir en los países socios los bienes manufacturados de más alta tecnología y productividad, lo cual inhibe su producción local.
Dawn | 12-Nov-2020
Pakistan is actively engaged in negotiations with parties involved in a dispute over the $5.97 billion award against the country in the Reko Diq litigation.
DW | 12-Nov-2020
A lawsuit by Vattenfall is also still pending before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), concerning several billion euros for the permanent closure of Krümmel and Brunsbüttel.
Prensa Libre | 9-Nov-2020
Empresa de capital colombiano ganó en el 2009 la licitación del Plan de Expansión del Sistema de Transporte de Energía Eléctrica para construir y operar 866 kilómetros de red de transmisión.
CIAR Global | 6-Nov-2020
El Ministerio de Finanzas Públicas del Gobierno de Guatemala comunicó el embargo de 15,75 millones de US dólares en el marco del arbitraje con Teco Energy, por el que se condenó al país centroamericano al pago de 35,4 millones de dólares.