Webinar: The Energy Charter Treaty: To "modernize" or to exit?

This webinar, part of IISD's series of Webinars on Investment Law and Policy, focused on the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). The event was held on January 22, 2020, at 3:30 PM CET/9:30 AM EST. 

The ECT is a treaty from 1994 that aimed to set out a multilateral framework for cooperation in the energy sector. It covers, among other areas, trade and investment, and includes an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism that has been used in various arbitration cases. A negotiation mandate for an ECT "modernization" process was adopted in late 2019, with meetings planned throughout the coming year.

Given this context, this webinar considered the history of the ECT, the modernization process now underway, and some of the main aspects of reform, including from the perspective of climate action. It considered questions such as the implications of ECT termination and withdrawal and noted the case history under the ECT to date.

The guest speaker for the webinar was Kyla Tienhaara, Canada Research Chair in Economy and Environment and Assistant Professor in the School of Environmental Studies and Department of Global Development Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. IISD International Law Advisor Martin Dietrich Brauch also served as speaker as well as webinar moderator.

The webinar was held on the Zoom platform. It can be viewed below and on IISD's YouTube channel.