Fossil fuel and corporate courts - help us reach our target

Is this email not displaying correctly? View in your browser

Hi John,

Next week is the annual meeting of the Energy Charter Treaty - the giant corporate court deal that fossil fuel companies are already using to sue governments over climate action. We're going to hand in our petition to the UK government calling on them to exit the Energy Charter Treaty and drop corporate courts.

We’ve almost got to 50,000 people signing so far - can you help us get there?

Add your name

Thanks and take care,

Jean Blaylock
Trade campaigner at Global Justice Now

PS. You can find my previous email below.

Hi John,

Fossil fuel companies could demand over $9 trillion from governments for passing climate laws, using corporate courts.

And the stronger the actions governments take to tackle the climate crisis, the more they can expect to be sued in these secretive tribunals.

For once, this isn’t coming from us. This is actually what energy insiders and specialist lawyers are saying!

We’ve seen slides from a presentation at an industry conference a few weeks ago where speakers openly and brazenly predicted that ambitious climate policy will drive an increase in corporate court cases - with these astronomical figures.

It is exactly why we need to get rid of corporate courts. Fossil fuel companies are using these secret tribunals to push back against climate action.

Exit the Energy Charter Treaty

The Energy Charter Treaty is a giant corporate court deal focused on the energy sector, and many of the fossil fuel companies are using it for these cases. Together with groups all across Europe, we are calling for our governments to exit the Energy Charter Treaty.

And there is beginning to be some movement - some countries such as France and Spain are listening to the pressure and considering leaving. So far the UK wants to stay put, but if we can ramp up the pressure that could change.

Can you add your name to the petition calling for the UK to exit the Energy Charter Treaty, as well as dropping corporate courts in new trade deals?

Sign the petition

High stakes

The amounts at stake are immense. The industry insiders reckon it could be over $9 trillion - which is more than ten percent of the global economy. That’s based on knowing we need to leave fossil fuels in the ground and shift power generation to renewables.

And when you add up the value of those oil and gas fields, coal mines, and obsolete power generation infrastructure, the fossil fuel companies see the dollar signs. The name used for all of these is ‘stranded assets’, but corporate courts provide a way for them to make profit from them after all.

We’ve already seen it happen - energy companies RWE and Uniper are both suing the Netherlands because the government is phasing out coal power, and so their coal power stations have become obsolete. And the industry insiders are clear that this is just the start.

It’s an outrageous issue and the media picked this up during COP. The threat that corporate courts pose to climate action is increasingly being recognised, and we need to keep up the momentum.

Please add your name and join the movement to exit the Energy Charter Treaty and get rid of corporate courts:

Sign the petition

Thank you for everything that you do.

Jean Blaylock
Trade campaigner at Global Justice Now

Powerful multinational corporations are continuing to fuel and profit from the climate crisis.

By coming together to challenge them, we can make a difference.

Regular gifts give us the long-term stability to plan effective campaigns, as well as the flexibility to react to key events.

If you’re not already a member, will you join today?

Join today