Corporate Courts versus The Climate

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Hi John,

Over the last year, we’ve seen that fossil fuel companies are using corporate courts to sue governments over climate action. As governments around Europe look to switch away from Russian oil and gas, the risk that corporate courts will distort the decisions they are making is even greater.

Recently two countries have publicly admitted that the fear of corporate courts has prevented them from setting the climate targets and taking the action needed [1]. Ministers from Denmark and New Zealand said they’d done less at COP26 and chosen weaker climate targets because they are afraid of being sued under the Energy Charter Treaty or other corporate courts deals.

This is exactly what we anticipated might happen, and it is probably the tip of the iceberg. We are especially concerned that countries in the global south may be most vulnerable to threats from corporate courts.

Corporate courts thrive in the shadows. We need to shine a light on them and help tell more people about the risk they pose.

We’ve got a new, easy to read photo booklet, Corporate Courts versus The Climate, which is a simple introduction to the issue. It focuses on the stories of three fossil fuel companies which are using corporate courts to sue over:

cancellation of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline
coal phaseout in the Netherlands
blocked expansion of the Cerrejon open cast coal mine in Colombia

Read the booklet in Issuu or pdf

Read the photo essay version

We need to scrap the dangerous corporate court system. And we can. Momentum has been building - across the world but also here in response to campaigners and activists like us. Last month, even a Financial Times editorial described the Energy Charter Treaty as “wreaking havoc” [2]. That tells us we’re getting somewhere! Now let's go further.

In solidarity,

Jean Blaylock
Trade campaigner at Global Justice Now

1) “Cop26 targets pushed back under threat of being sued”, Capital Monitor, 14 January 2022
2) “Governments should not foot the bill for stranded assets”, Financial Times, 21 February 2022

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