Protecting Against Investor–State Claims Amidst COVID-19: A call to action for governments
Governments are acting to curb the spread of COVID-19 through emergency interventions such as shutdowns and strict containment, and measures to ensure supplies of essential foods, medical equipment, and health care services.
With many of these emergency measures hitting businesses hard, they are creating an unprecedented risk of foreign investors suing governments under the web of investment treaties concluded across the globe. Our call to action is for governments to come together to either suspend treaty-based investor–state arbitration for all COVID-19 related measures or clarify the application of international law defences during these extraordinary times.Until such joint action comes into effect, governments can limit the risks of international arbitration by withdrawing consent to it.
You might also be interested in
Fair and Equitable Treatment: Why it matters and what can be done
This policy brief presents the different types of FET clauses, the problems associated with its application, and the policy options available to policy-makers to preserve states' right to regulate and avoid ISDS claims.
Economic and Financial Issues in Renewable Energy Arbitration
This article provides an overview of key economic and financial issues that are frequently encountered in renewable energy arbitration. The challenges of RES investments and the impact on uncertainty are discussed in turn. Thereafter, the key lessons from renewable energy arbitration in Spain are considered. Finally, the economic and financial considerations for the assessment of liability and damages are considered in more detail.
Energy Charter Treaty Withdrawal Announcements Reflect Reform Outcome is Insufficient for Climate Ambition
The wave of announcements from several EU member states of their plans to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty reinforce that efforts to reform the controversial accord have been insufficient to support ambitious climate action.
Posts misinterpret European nations' withdrawal from fossil fuel treaty: experts
Legal experts say a claim shared across social media misleadingly suggests that several European nations, including France and the Netherlands, have withdrawn from a decades-old Energy Charter Treaty (ETC) because they are "jumping ship on climate commitments". In fact, the experts say, France and the Netherlands announced that a proposed amendment to the treaty does not accord with the Paris Agreement, making it "incompatible with (their) climate goals".