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 Corner | 18-Jun-2020
The ICSID has lifted the suspension on the execution of the €290 million award NextEra obtained a year ago.
Energía16 | 15-Jun-2020
El Centro Internacional de Arreglo de Disputas entre Inversores del Banco Mundial encontró un conflicto de intereses en el árbitro propuesto por el demandante y anuló un laudo arbitral que condenaba a España a pagar 128 millones de euros al fondo Eiser.
Ecologistas en Acción | 11-Jun-2020
Más de 220 organizaciones y miembros de la sociedad civil solicitan a Teresa Ribera y al Gobierno de España que abandone el Tratado sobre la Carta de la Energía (TCE), un acuerdo de inversiones para el sector energético firmado en 1994 por el Estado español.
Daily Monitor | 11-Jun-2020
Joining the Energy Charter Treaty could cost developing countries money that is urgently needed to fight Covid-19 and a loaming economic crisis. The Energy Charter Treaty has become increasingly controversial.
Geopolitical Monitor | 5-Jun-2020
Ecuagoldmining’s estimated $20 million investment so far could turn into a $469 million award, should it emerge victorious in an arbitration proceeding.
D+C | 4-Jun-2020
On the basis of the Energy Charter Treaty, companies are suing countries for damages when the latter decide to phase out or limit the use of fossil fuels.
CIAR Global | 3-Jun-2020
El Comité ad hoc formado con motivo de la solicitud de anulación presentada por España en el arbitraje que ha mantenido con NextEra ante el Centro Internacional de Arreglo de Diferencias relativas a Inversiones (CIADI) ha emitido su decisión sobre la suspensión de del laudo dando luz verde a su ejecución que se lleva a cabo en tribunales estadounidenses.
In These Times | 2-Jun-2020
Wealthy corporations may use trade courts to keep public health measures from cutting into their profits.
Le Point | 28-May-2020
La Russie contre-attaque après avoir été condamnée à payer 50 milliards de dollars aux anciens actionnaires de Ioukos. Un feuilleton judiciaire interminable…
Stop Corporate Impunity | 27-May-2020
Indigenous communities call for international solidarity to support for the vindication of rights of the comunities and peoples affected by corporate impunity and their struggle for a dignified life.