Stop the Energy Charter Treaty - ACT NOW!
It’s the biggest climate action killer nobody has ever heard of.
The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is a major obstacle to fast and effective action on the climate and environmental crisis. Our transformation to a green and fair society will become harder, slower and more expensive if we don’t stop the Energy Charter Treaty.
#ByeByeECTRex is the name of the European tour that a gigantic dinosaur – 10 meters long, 6 meters wide and 7 meters high – is undertaking. It starts its journey in Lisbon (24 April), then goes to Madrid (26 April), Barcelona (28 April), Berlin (4 May), Prague (10 May), Vienna (11 May), Brussels (17 May) and Luxembourg (18 May).
Why a dinosaur?
The ECT-Rex represents the Energy Charter Treaty, a treaty that, like the dinosaurs, belongs to the past. This obscure treaty from the 1990s grants sweeping rights and protections to big energy investors – mainly fossil fuel companies. The fossil fuel industry is using it to sue governments and sabotage the energy transition. Not before normal courts with judges. But in secret tribunals, settled by commercial arbiters who have an incentive to favour corporations.
More and more, the deal is being used to attack government policies that might negatively impact fossil fuel corporations’ profits. Policies like phasing out dirty energy or shutting fossil fuel plants. In Europe alone €350 billion euros worth of oil, gas and coal projects are protected under this treaty.
Bold climate action, environmental protection and just transition policies have never been more urgent. But the Energy Charter Treaty risks delaying action and making it more costly.
Why now?
There is still time to tackle climate change, but the ECT is a major hurdle, as the latest IPCC report points out.
Since 2018, the EU and its Member States are negotiating to reform the Treaty behind closed doors. The EU’s most ambitious (yet insufficient) proposal on the table has not been supported by the ECT signatories. The EU has set an ultimatum for the negotiations to end with a political agreement in June 2022, but the talks are doomed to fail. The best option for governments is to withdraw from the ECT.
Watch out for the ECT-Rex, follow #ByeByeECTRex #NoECT on social media or keep an eye on our Twitter Moment.
Take action to end the climate-killer treaty
It sounds like a bad joke
Contact
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Audrey ChangoeTrade campaigner
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News and publications
08/11/21
COP26 action on fossils undermined by corporate courts
Any progress achieved at COP26 this week to reduce fossil fuels could be fatally undermined by a secretive corporate court system that protects coal, …
27/10/21
How the Energy Charter Treaty derails climate action
An obscure treaty European governments have created, the Energy Charter Treaty, could massively undermine countries’ climate pledges – delaying climat …
02/09/21
European Court of Justice drastically limits Energy Charter Treaty within EU
European Court of Justice rules that polluting energy companies in the EU cannot sue EU governments using the Energy Charter Treaty – throwing into do …
