climate
Green groups have renewed their demand for the EU and member states to jointly withdraw from the controversial Energy Charter Treaty (ECT).
The Energy Charter Treaty, with 53 signatories, allows energy companies to sue states that make their business unprofitable.
Corporations are busy weaponising obscure legal instruments to sue government for their actions to save lives and jobs during the coronavirus crisis.
The European Union-Mercosur free trade agreement faces growing opposition from European national governments, EU parliamentarians, and non-profit organizations, in addition to Latin American entities, putting its ratification at risk.
The Energy Charter Treaty, which dates back to the 1990s, severely restricts Europe’s ability to change regulations in the energy sector, with many EU member states facing court actions worth billions of euros, write a group of MEPs.
While the agreement still has to be approved by the European Parliament and Council, farmers and environmental NGOs remain disappointed.
Interview with Yamina Saheb, former head of unit in the Energy Charter Treaty Secretariat .
The deal provides loopholes for oil, gas, and mining companies to operate across borders, and paves the way for US companies to export even more fracked natural gas across the border into Mexico.
The agreement could have serious ecological and human rights repercussions, new study warns.
Most countries have implicitly created a carbon subsidy in trade policy. Using trade policy negotiations to decrease this environmental bias of trade policy could help address climate change.
How trade agreements could contribute to a more sustainable world economy.
On the basis of the Energy Charter Treaty, companies are suing countries for damages when the latter decide to phase out or limit the use of fossil fuels.
The EU-Mercosur trade deal comes at a tremendous expense for people and the planet. Dire consequences are looming both on regional and global levels.
Uniper is using a controversial investor dispute system to claim up to €1 billion compensation for being forced to close a coal power station early.
Union and consumer groups warn post-Brexit trade policy must hold food imports to same standards as UK.
The Energy Charter Treaty takes an axe to climate action.
While policies aiming to phase out coal are necessary to tackle climate change, they may give rise to legal claims from companies whose investments are adversely affected by the low-carbon energy transition.
The government has not ruled out imports of US agricultural products made to lower standards than in the UK.
The recently-launched Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement faces climate change risks that could prevent the continent from gaining maximum trade benefits from the agreement.
The sustainable impact assessment report of the free trade agreement between the European Union and Indonesia is not easy to find. Yet some of its findings are quite worrying.
