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)

AFTINET | 14-Nov-2023
Billionaire Clive Palmer is using the Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism against Australia because the permits for a coal mining project were refused for environmental reasons, including their contribution to increased carbon emissions.
teleSUR | 7-Nov-2023
The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of Bolivia, denying any compensation to the American mining company Orlandini for the revocation of concessions.
CIAR Global | 7-Nov-2023
El tribunal del arbitraje Orlandini v. Bolivia ha emitido el laudo en el que, según ha informado el Gobierno boliviano, ha ganado el Estado. El tribunal concluyó que Bolivia no incumplió sus obligaciones internacionales ni aquellas dispuestas en el tratado de inversión invocado.
La Razón | 6-Nov-2023
Son cinco en materia de inversión y cinco comerciales. Para atenderlos, el Estado contrató 10 bufetes de abogados internacionales y otros son atendidos en el país.
La Estrella | 6-Nov-2023
[...] ya sea, por medio de una nueva ley que derogue la Ley 406 o una sentencia de inconstitucionalidad [...], de igual manera, a la empresa le asiste el derecho para demandar al Estado de Panamá.
Energy Voice | 6-Nov-2023
Zenith Energy has launched international arbitration in Paris against state-owned Entreprise Tunisienne d’Activités Pétrolières (ETAP).
Public Citizen | 3-Nov-2023
The groups argue that removing ISDS — which has prioritized corporate rights over those of governments, people, and the planet — is needed to protect policies necessary for a clean energy transition.
Euromaidan Press | 3-Nov-2023
DTEK Group prevails in The Hague case, securing a $267 million award from Russia for the confiscation of assets in occupied Crimea.
MSN | 3-Nov-2023
The Russian state will go on trial for failing to pay $60bn (£49bn) to former shareholders of defunct oil behemoth Yukos, after a British judge blocked the country’s bid for immunity.
African Manager | 3-Nov-2023
Zenith Energy a engagé un deuxième arbitrage contre la Tunisie devant la Chambre de commerce internationale après avoir déposé une procédure auprès du CIRDI en juin.