Hi John,
We need your help on 18 September. It will be six weeks to the UN climate conference, COP26, and we’re calling on the UK government to turn away from corporate courts, which are increasingly an obstacle to climate justice and a clean energy transition.
So we’re holding a day of action, Corporate Courts vs The Climate.
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What are we calling for?
We're calling for the UK to exit the Energy Charter Treaty before COP26. The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is a giant corporate court deal between over 50 countries specifically for energy companies. At its heart is a corporate court system which is currently being used by:
- two energy companies, Uniper and RWE, to sue the Netherlands over its coal power phaseout
- UK oil company, Rockhopper, to sue Italy over a ban on offshore drilling close to the coast
- UK fracking company, Ascent Resources, to sue Slovenia for requiring it to assess the environmental impact of fracking plans.
We're campaigning along with allies all across Europe, together calling on our own governments to exit the ECT.
We're also calling for the UK to drop corporate courts in the current UK-Canada trade talks and to stop joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) which has corporate courts. We want the UK to get rid of this unjust system completely in its trade deals.
Corporate courts were originally created[1], half a century ago, by lawyers at fossil fuel companies to protect corporate interests, and they're being used by fossil fuel companies now to undermine climate action. We're taking action outside fossil fuel companies involved in corporate court cases related to climate change, and their law firms, to expose their complicity and highlight why the government needs to take action.
What’s the plan?
We’ve put together a list of locations linked to corporations that are bringing corporate court cases linked to climate – or to the law firms who are bringing the cases for them. They range from power stations run by Uniper, to Shell and Texaco garages.
If you are part of a GJN or climate or other activist group - or you can get five or more people together, then you could hold a:
- protest outside of one of the companies
- campaign stall in the high street
- stunt at one of the companies
There’s more information on these ideas on our website as well as some resources you could use. Do contact our activism team, at [email protected] to order materials or if you have questions.
We're planning a stunt in London, and if you're in the area, we'll be in touch with more about that in a couple of weeks.
Taking action on your own?
If you’re taking action on your own, then we’re putting some research together around the financial cost of these cases, and we’ll be in touch closer to the time with some online actions you can take.
I hope you can join us next month. Corporate courts are part of the economic system that has driven and perpetuates the climate crisis. We need to join together in taking action to get rid of them.
In solidarity,
Jean Blaylock
Trade campaigner at Global Justice Now
1) Nicolás M Perrone, “Oil companies don’t deserve reparations for fossil fuel bans. They’ll still want them.” Guardian 19 April 2021
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