Thread by @doctorow

One of the worst barriers to preserving the planet in a state suitable for human habitation is the Energy Charter Treaty, an obscure 1994 treaty with 50+ signatories that allows energy companies to sue governments over environmental protection laws.

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The ECT has just been invoked by the German polluter @RWE_AG, which is suing the Dutch government for €1.4b over a law that bans coal plants by 2030.

euractiv.com/section/energy…

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All told, the EU faces AT LEAST €345b in ECT liability over its climate plans. In reality, the total could be much higher, because the ECT provides for damages equal to the value of physical plant and ALL PROJECTED FUTURE PROFITS from those plants.

investigate-europe.eu/en/2021/ect/

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€345b is double the EU's total annual operational budget. This is the ransom that the world's worst climate criminals are demanding that Europeans pay as a condition of continuing to have a habitable planet. Big Energy want to be rewarded for its crimes against humanity.

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Every day the treaty remains in effect produces more liability. Under ECT's provisions, a country that pulls out of the agreement is still liable for TWENTY YEARS for any laws that affect the profitability of energy products started while the country was still in the ECT.

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When a country is sued by a multinational for improving its environmental protections, the case is tried by a star-chamber of corporate lawyers who meet in secret and overwhelmingly find in favor of polluters.

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Now, obviously, this is not a stable situation. To keep countries from fleeing the ECT, the energy cartel has embarked on a "modernization" project that it has slow-walked since 2017, with help from Japan, whose worst polluters depend on ECT to operate with impunity.

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It's not hard to grind negotiations to a halt - all you need is a requirement that every decision must be unanimous before work can proceed. Leaks show this gambit is why the "modernization" meetings have been a four-year, do-nothing talking shop:

euractiv.com/section/energy…

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The harms of ECT aren't limited to direct vast transfers of public money to polluters. ECT is a major reason we don't get meaningful climate action in the first place: such legislation dies in planning once its authors are warned that it will trigger ECT enforcement action.

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The arguments in favor of ECT are risible FUD, as Fabian Flues, @CeOlivet and @pia_eberhardt document for @opendemocracy.

opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/…

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Take the argument that the ECT spurs investment in renewables: a meta-analysis of 74 papers concludes that this effect is "so small as to be considered zero" (in reality, the majority of ECT-attributable investment is in dirty fossil fuel power).

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jo…

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Or the argument that since quitting ECT leaves countries exposed for 20 years, there's no point. Recall that this 20 year overhang only applies to projects begun BEFORE the country leaves the ECT, so the sooner countries quit it, the less risk they face.

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Such risk as does exist can be mitigated by countries quitting in a bloc, making a mutual promise to ban companies domiciled in their borders from making any claims under the ECT, using national law to prohibit ECT action. The EU could mitigate much of its risk this way.

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That the ECT even exists is a bad joke. It can't be fixed through "modernization" (especially not the current modernization plan, which doesn't touch corporate courts or contemplate any exemptions for climate regulation).

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300 EU lawmakers have signed a petition calling on the EU to leave the ECT.

endfossilprotection.org/sites/default/…

They're joined by 450 climate activists:

endfossilprotection.org/en#no-back

And you can sign, too, in this new EU-wide petition:

energy-charter-dirty-secrets.org

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Image: joelbeeb (modified)
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zimm…

CC BY-SA:
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa…

eof/

ETA - If you'd like an unrolled version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

pluralistic.net/2021/02/25/rin…