18 November 2025
NGOs call on Government to leave Energy Charter Treaty as new claim emerges
by Leah Sullivan, Trade and Climate Policy Coordinator
Civil society groups are calling on the Government to leave the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and reject ISDS, as a new threat emerges over the government’s refusal to grant an exploration licence to an oil and gas company.
Ireland reportedly faces a second investor claim under the Energy Charter Treaty. Predator Oil and Gas, headquartered in Jersey, are planning on suing the Government using the Treaty’s investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism over the Government’s ongoing refusal to grant a frontier exploration license for the Corrib South gas field[1]. Predator has a 50% share in Corrib South.
Under ISDS, investors can seek large sums by way of compensation for the impacts of government policy on their profits. The mechanism has been denounced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as well as UN Special Rapporteurs who have labelled it “catastrophic” for the climate. Ireland already faces the prospect of a claim over the Barryroe oil and gas field by Lansdowne Oil and Gas.
Former Minister Eamon Ryan announced that Ireland would leave the ECT in June 2024, but the Government has not as yet delivered on this announcement[2]. Ireland is among fourteen European countries that have announced an exit from the Treaty over its incompatibility with climate goals. Most of these countries have passed legislation making this exit effective, however Ireland has not. The EU itself left the Treaty in 2024.
Leah Sullivan, Trade and Climate Policy Coordinator at Climate Action Network Europe, said: “It is obscene that as governments meet in Brazil at COP 30 to try and avert climate breakdown, ISDS hands fossil fuel companies extraordinary privileges to sue countries in private tribunals for vast sums. ISDS means paying polluters. The government must act on its promise to exit the ECT immediately - and not sign up to ISDS in any future deals.”
Barry Finnegan, campaigner with the Comhlámh Trade Justice Group, said: “Just as Ireland is getting sued for keeping fossil gas in the ground, now the government wants to sign us up to ISDS in the EU-Canada trade deal. If they get away with that, it could mean Ireland getting sued for capping rents, for building social housing which lowers the average price of houses, for improving workers’ rights or for legislating to prevent climate change.”
Information for editors:
About the Energy Charter Treaty
The Energy Charter Treaty gives companies sweeping rights to sue governments through parallel private courts or ISDS (investor-state dispute settlement) mechanisms. This allows companies to claim billions of taxpayers’ money if governments pass climate and environmental laws. Cases are heard in secretive tribunals outside of national legal systems. In 2021, CAN Europe started a petition against the ECT which gathered over 1 million citizens asking the EU to pull out of the treaty. Italy, Spain, France, Poland, Germany, Slovenia, Lithuania, Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the UK and Portugal, Romania have all left or are in the process of leaving the ECT. The European Union left in 2024.
Some case examples:
● In 2024, Exxon Mobil launched an ISDS case under the ECT against the Dutch government as part of a set of arbitration cases demanding billions for its decision to phase out gas exploration in Groningen, the Netherlands.
● In 2022, The British oil company Rockhopper was awarded €190 million plus interest under the Energy Charter Treaty after Italy banned offshore drilling, following a decade of struggle by Italian coastal communities who denounced the danger of coastal drilling.
● Fossil fuel company Klesch Group Holdings Limited is suing the EU, Germany and Denmark for at least €95 million over windfall taxes under the Energy Charter Treaty. The lawsuit by the oil company emerged amidst Europe’s broader efforts to transition towards sustainable energy and overcome the economic impact of high energy prices.
For more information and media requests:
Leah Sullivan, Trade and Climate Policy Coordinator
leah.sullivan@caneurope.org
[2] https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2025-10-07/30/
