Academic open letter on ISDS and UK climate policy
Trade Justice Movement | 19 December 2025
Academic open letter on ISDS and UK climate policy
A group of 56 UK-affiliated academics has written to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband MP, warning that Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) poses a serious risk to the UK’s ability to take effective climate action.
ISDS provisions in trade and investment agreements allow foreign investors to sue governments in private tribunals when public interest measures, including climate policies, affect their profits. Globally, fossil fuel companies have already used ISDS to secure over $80 billion in compensation from states.
The letter highlights that the UK is currently facing two ISDS claims, including one linked to the proposed West Cumbria coal mine and another associated with Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman. These cases demonstrate how ISDS can be used to challenge climate and national security decisions outside the UK’s own courts.
The signatories include leading experts in law, economics, climate policy and political economy. They call on the government to limit the UK’s exposure to future claims by ruling out ISDS in new agreements, addressing ISDS in existing treaties, and pursuing alternative approaches to supporting UK investors overseas.
Read the letter (pdf)
