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 Gleaner | 20-Apr-2018
A Jamaican investor served the government of the Dominican Republic with a notice of arbitration surrounding the state takeover of a recycling facility and waste-to-energy plant.
Out-Law | 16-Apr-2018
A recent decision under the Energy Charter Treaty by France’s highest court appears to signal a return to a literal interpretation by the French courts of international treaties.
La Nación | 3-Apr-2018
Las empresas distribuidoras, entre otras concesionarias, habían iniciado demandas ante el Ciadi por la violación de contratos; en la renegociación con el Gobierno se comprometieron a desactivarlas.
Litigation Finance Journal | 3-Apr-2018
Stans has entered into a litigation finance agreement to obtain incremental funding of Stans’ legal costs to continue with the international arbitration proceedings against the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.
La FM | 27-Mar-2018
La empresa espera que el país la repare por más de 32 millones de dólares tras delimitación del Páramo de Santurbán.
Cision | 26-Mar-2018
US court issued its ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in Stati et al. v. Rep. of Kazakhstan, a long-running litigation concerning the Stati Parties’ efforts to enforce a $520 million arbitral award under the Energy Charter Treaty.
No al TTIP | 23-Mar-2018
Edgewater denuncia que un intermediario solicitó 1,5 millones a repartir entre Feijóo y altos cargos para llevar a cabo una megamina que luego fue vetada. La venganza de la empresa señala a Feijóo, un ex-conselleiro y a la empresa Sacyr en un conflicto en que la Administración ha gastado más de medio millón de euros.
TASS | 23-Mar-2018
Gazprom has already sent a notice to Ukraine about the Ukrainian side violating its obligations to protect investment and is currently preparing a lawsuit to appeal to International arbitration.
Financial Post | 22-Mar-2018
The dispute offers another example of the rising tensions between mining companies and the government leaders in cash strapped countries where they operate.
Mining Weekly | 21-Mar-2018
Junior project developer Eco Oro Minerals has filed a memorial on the merits with the World Bank’s ICSID in its arbitration case against Colombia.