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investor-state disputes | ISDS

Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) refers to a way of handling conflicts under international investment agreements whereby companies from one party are allowed to sue the government of another party. This means they can file a complaint and seek compensation for damages. Many BITs and investment chapters of FTAs allow for this if the investor’s expectation of a profit has been negatively affected by some action that the host government took, such as changing a policy. The dispute is normally handled not in a public court but through a private abritration panel. The usual venues where these proceedings take place are the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (World Bank), the International Chamber of Commerce, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law or the International Court of Justice.

ISDS is a hot topic right now because it is being challenged very strongly by concerned citizens in the context of the EU-US TTIP negotiations, the TransPacific Partnership talks and the CETA deal between Canada and the EU.

Powerful anti-climate legal instrument could cost the UK billions
9-Oct-2025 E3G
In August 2025, for the second time in its history, the UK government was sued by a foreign investor under investor-state dispute settlement provisions, through the 1975 UK-Singapore bilateral investment treaty.
Portugal’s Galp takes step to start arbitration over Mozambique capital gains tax dispute
9-Oct-2025 Club of mozambique
Galp says it has formally notified the State of Mozambique of a dispute under the international reciprocal promotion and protection of investments.
From trade deal to corporate takeover: threats of lawsuit abuse in RCEP
7-Oct-2025 IBON International
This episode unpacks the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, world’s largest free trade agreement, and the dangerous push to insert the Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism into its investment chapter.
The corporate siege of Honduras: international arbitration demands, energy transition, and state sovereignty
3-Oct-2025 bilaterals.org
Between July 14 and 17, in the city of Choluteca (Honduras), more than 60 people from 20 local communities and representatives of national and international social movements gathered for the “Meeting of communities affected by energy projects in southern Honduras - Without human rights, there is no energy sovereignty.”
The international investment legal regime, climate change, and human rights: an overview
3-Oct-2025 CIEL
Fossil fuel companies alone have launched over 300 ISDS cases, seeking over $80 billion in damages for climate-related policies aimed at phasing out oil, gas, and coal.
ICSID caseload statistics 2025: key trends and insights
3-Oct-2025 Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
ICSID has released its FY 2025 caseload statistics, unveiling new data on damages including the difference between damages claimed and damages awarded.
Indonesia-Canada CEPA is not the rules-based trade we need
2-Oct-2025 CCPA
Free trade deal is a gift to mining and fossil fuel companies but sidelines human rights and industrial development.
Clive Palmer’s multibillion-dollar claims make a mockery of a tribunal that allows foreign investors to challenge court decisions
1-Oct-2025 The Guardian
The billionaire’s last three cases are part of a growing global list from fossil fuel companies against government decisions to reduce carbon emissions.
AFTINET webinar: ISDS - Fossil fuel companies’ secret weapon against climate action and Clive Palmer case outcome
1-Oct-2025 AFTINET
With COP30 in Brazil around the corner and with the prospect of Australia co-hosting COP31 next year, a major threat to effective climate action continues to fly under the radar: Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanisms in trade and investment agreements.
Will Canadian companies respond to widescale public dissent by threatening to sue?
30-Sep-2025 Common Frontiers
Tens of thousands of people took to the street in a nationwide strike opposing various Canadian-owned mining projects while the Canada-Ecuador Free Trade Agreement could be tabled any day now.
Clive Palmer ordered to pay $13m after claim of being ‘foreign investor’ in Australian mining project thrown out
29-Sep-2025 The Guardian
Attorney general says mining magnate is ‘not a foreign investor’ and is ‘not entitled to any benefits under Australia’s free trade and investment agreements’
Tunisia: Zenith Energy claims USD 573 million
25-Sep-2025 AfricanManager
Zenith Energy Ltd. announced Monday that its UK subsidiaries have filed their final submissions in an ongoing international arbitration case against the Republic of Tunisia before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington.
10 stories (more) of how the rich and powerful hijacked justice
24-Sep-2025 Linkedin
These cases can cost countries (or rather, taxpayers) billions — even when decisions were taken democratically to protect people, the environment, or national security.
Exxon and Shell sue the Netherlands in secret tribunals for closing Europe’s biggest gas field
19-Sep-2025 Drilled
Following billions in profits and over a thousand gas extraction-related earthquakes, the oil and gas giants filed claims against the Dutch state in four separate investor-state disputes concerning compensation for home damages and the permanent closure of the Groningen gas field.
Gas company accuses Tanzania over project breakdown
18-Sep-2025 Africain law and business
Tanzania will have to defend allegations that it is trying to force a foreign energy company out of a USD 1.2 billion gas production project.
Canada’s Alamos exits Türkiye, sells 3 gold mines to Nurol for $470M
17-Sep-2025 Türkiye Today
As part of the agreement, arbitration proceedings brought by Alamos’s Netherlands subsidiaries against the Republic of Türkiye under the Netherlands–Türkiye Bilateral Investment Treaty will remain suspended.
Uruguay paid US$64 million after Luxembourg account seizure not disclosed by previous government
9-Sep-2025 MercoPress
The Uruguayan state had its bank accounts in Luxembourg frozen for several months due to non-payment of an arbitration award over the closure of national airline Pluna.
Kazakhstan wins arbitration case, escapes $34-billion claim
8-Sep-2025 Eurasianet
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague has sided with Kazakhstan in a case brought by a Kyrgyz entrepreneur claiming over $34 billion in damages. Instead, the businessman, Yevgeny Belavin, now must pay all of Kazakhstan’s substantial legal fees, as well as court costs.
The French state before an arbitration tribunal over “Montagne d’Or”
4-Sep-2025 Veblen Institute
The French state is being sued by two Russian investment companies (controlled by a sanctioned oligarch), in connection with the “Montagne d’Or” mining megaproject in French Guiana.
Record number of corporate lawsuits target climate action in controversial tribunal
3-Sep-2025 Follow The Money
Fossil fuel and mining companies are ramping up lawsuits against governments over environmental rules, using a controversial arbitration mechanism that critics say is skewed in industry’s favour and jeopardises global climate action.