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 Manila Times | 5-Mar-2025
Montero confirms that US$7,000,000 in cash have been received by the Company from Tanzania, which is expected to put an end to the dispute in connection with Tanzania’s expropriation of Montero’s Wigu Hill rare earth element project.
The Guardian | 5-Mar-2025
The island is being sued by a mining company over its decision, and faces paying nine times its annual budget in damages if it loses.
Mining.com | 4-Mar-2025
Kazakhstan has overturned a $54.5 million arbitral award previously granted to World Wide Minerals Ltd., a Canadian junior miner, in relation to a terminated uranium processing project.
CCPA | 27-Feb-2025
Amidst all the chaos brought on by Trump’s tariff threats, Canada’s federal trade minister celebrated a minor win this month: the finalization of a trade agreement with Ecuador.
Gold Reserve | 25-Feb-2025
On February 20, 2025, the Lisbon Court of Appeal issued an Order granting Gold Reserve’s application to confirm the award in Portugal.
CBC | 17-Feb-2025
Ecuador’s largest Indigenous organization is vowing to fight a now-concluded free trade agreement with Canada, warning it could encourage human rights abuses in the ecologically and culturally diverse South American country.
Radio-Canada | 17-Feb-2025
La plus grande organisation autochtone de l’Équateur s’engage à lutter contre un accord de libre-échange qui vient d’être conclu avec le Canada.
Acción Ecológica | 7-Feb-2025
El presidente – candidato Daniel Noboa anunció en tono triunfal este 3 de febrero que su gobierno “ha conseguido lo que ningún otro: Ecuador tendrá un acuerdo comercial con Canadá”, dando por hecho que la Corte Constitucional emitirá una resolución favorable de constitucionalidad y que la Asamblea Nacional sí lo aprobará. ¡Sin embargo, no se conoce todavía el texto del Tratado porque aún no ha sido firmado! Sigue en condición de “reserva”.
Infobae | 6-Feb-2025
Un incidente de violencia en la mina Higabra, en Antioquia, puso en jaque la seguridad en la región y genera repercusiones legales en el plano internacional por una aparente violación del Tratado de Libre Comercio con Canadá.
Radio Caracol | 4-Feb-2025
Ante el Centro Internacional de Arreglo de Diferencias relativas a Inversiones (CIADI) llegó una demanda presentada por la firma canadiense Continental Gold Inc, contra Colombia por supuestamente violar el Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) con Canadá.