Topic: Climate change
Ireland faces first-ever treaty claim
A London-listed oil and gas company has said it will pursue an Energy Charter Treaty claim against Ireland over an offshore drilling project – the country’s first known investment treaty claim.
22 May 2023
Miles calls for rethink on investment arbitration and social justice
In an EFILA keynote speech that considered the challenges posed by climate change, Wendy Miles KC of Twenty Essex argued that investment arbitration is not an obstacle to a net-zero economy but that its role must be rethought to fully deliver social justice. Nicholas Lawn and Trajan Shipley of Van Bael and Bellis report.
24 April 2023
ICCA panel to draft disputes annex for Paris Agreement
Catherine Amirfar and Annette Magnusson are to chair a high-level ICCA panel that will develop and promote a draft annex on conciliation of disputes for the Paris Agreement and its parent treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
24 February 2023
Malpass to leave World Bank role
David Malpass has announced his plans to resign as president of the World Bank – and chair of ICSID’s administrative council – before the end of his term, amid reports of a climate policy rift with US President Joe Biden.
17 February 2023
EU parliament calls for ECT withdrawal
The European Parliament has called for the EU to exit the “outdated” Energy Charter Treaty – as the ECT’s signatories delay a vote on amendments to the treaty until at least April next year.
24 November 2022
Water wars loom, hears COP fringe event
The African Society of International Law hosted a landmark event in Cairo ahead of the current COP27 climate change summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, with warnings of "water wars" among other disasters if action is not taken.
18 November 2022
European exodus from the ECT: politics and unintended consequences
Guillermo Garcia-Perrote and Ella Wisniewski of Herbert Smith Freehills in Australia consider the politics and unintended consequences of the recent exodus of European states from the Energy Charter Treaty and ask what it means for the transition from fossil fuel.
15 November 2022
Slovenia joins European exodus from ECT
Slovenia has become the latest EU member state to announce it is withdrawing from the Energy Charter Treaty, as Switzerland confirms it will vote to adopt modernisations to the treaty.
10 November 2022
France joins rush to exit ECT
France is the latest European country to announce it is pulling out of the Energy Charter Treaty because of environmental concerns, following similar moves by the Netherlands and Spain.
24 October 2022
Netherlands moves to quit Energy Charter Treaty
The Dutch government has followed Spain and Poland in announcing plans to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty, while other European states are reportedly considering abstaining from a vote next month on reforms to the treaty.
19 October 2022