<
https://www.techdirt.com/2022/10/31/finally-countries-start-to-rebel-against-corporate-sovereignty-but-ten-years-too-late/>
"Back in 2013, Techdirt wrote about “the monster lurking inside free trade
agreements”. Formally, the monster is known as Investor-State Dispute
Settlement (ISDS), but here on Techdirt we call it “corporate sovereignty“,
because that is what it is: a system of secret courts that effectively places
companies above a government, by allowing them to sue a nation if the latter
takes actions or brings in laws that might adversely affect their profits.
In 2015, we warned that corporate sovereignty would threaten EU plans to
protect the environment in the TAFTA/TTIP trade deal between the US and the EU.
TAFTA/TTIP never happened, but fossil fuel companies were able to to use other
treaties to demand over $18 billion as “compensation” for the potential loss of
future profits as the result of increasing government action to tackle climate
change.
Chief among those treaties with corporate sovereignty provisions was the Energy
Charter Treaty (ECT), which is designed to protect investments in the energy
sector. Research by the International Institute for Sustainable Development
(IISD) shows that the fossil fuel industry accounts for almost 20% of known
ISDS cases, making it the most litigious group. Recently there has been a wave
of corporate sovereignty cases brought by fossil fuel companies, with most
settled in their favor. The average amount awarded was over $600 million,
almost five times the amount given in non-fossil fuel cases.
It has become clear that corporate sovereignty represents a serious threat to
countries’ plans to tackle the climate crisis."
Via Kevin O'Brien.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
