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)

Ecofin | 16-Feb-2021
Shell, empêtré dans de nombreuses affaires de pollution dans le delta du Niger, a été condamné à verser des dommages-intérêts, mais semble vouloir régler le contentieux à l’amiable, d’où la sollicitation d’un arbitrage.
Korea Herald | 12-Feb-2021
SK Innovation is considering initiating international arbitration proceedings against the Peruvian government for blocking the company’s exit from Camisea Gas Project in Peru.
Euractiv | 10-Feb-2021
Luxembourg’s energy minister who used to be at the forefront of calls to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty, has backtracked on his earlier statements, saying the EU should first aim to redouble efforts to reform.
CCSI | 10-Feb-2021
While withdrawing, EU Member States could attempt to negotiate out of the sunset clause but would be subjected to it unless all other ECT Members agree to relieve them from the application of the clause.
TASS | 8-Feb-2021
The Russian side also repeatedly drew attention to the fact that Yukos shareholders have no right to use modern protection mechanisms, since the privatization of the company was accompanied by deception, corruption and tax evasion
RT | 8-Feb-2021
Les ex-actionnaires de Ioukos, ex-groupe placé en liquidation judiciaire en 2006, poursuivent la Russie pour obtenir 50 milliards de dollars d’indemnisation.
West Law | 8-Feb-2021
Alberta’s Premier said that the Canadian province, which has an equity in the now-canceled Keystone XL pipeline, may seek compensation under investor-protection provisions still in effect under NAFTA
Investing | 5-Feb-2021
La eléctrica alemana RWE (DE:RWEG_p) inició este jueves un caso de arbitraje internacional para exigir una compensación al Gobierno neerlandés por los efectos de la prohibición del uso de carbón a partir de 2030 en Países Bajos, donde tiene una central de energía que podrá sufrir 1.400 millones de euros en pérdidas, lo que ha causado polémica en La Haya.
Le Soir | 5-Feb-2021
Le géant allemand de l’énergie RWE réclame à l’Etat néerlandais une compensation à son projet d’interdire la production d’électricité à l’aide de centrales au charbon. L’entreprise estime qu’elle pourrait subir 1,4 milliard d’euros de dommages.
45 Secondes | 5-Feb-2021
L’Alberta, le cœur pétrolier du Canada, pourrait demander une compensation aux États-Unis après que le président nouvellement investi, Joe Biden, ait déménagé pour réparer le pipeline Keystone XL.