The Energy Charter Treaty has made the German coal phase-out more difficult and more expensive. This is the conclusion of a briefing published today by PowerShift together with eight other civil society organisations and based on newly published documents from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). To ensure that the new federal government is not prevented from implementing ambitious climate targets, the organisations are calling for Germany to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty.
In an internal e-mail sent to the organizations on a request for freedom of information, On 31 October 2019, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy already admitted to the Federal Chancellery that it expects lawsuits under the Energy Charter Treaty in the event of a regulatory coal phase-out. In the letter, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy expressly warned against the ‘time-consuming and costly’ arbitration proceedings.
For this reason too, the Federal Government negotiated a contract with the lignite companies, which grants them extremely high compensation and particularly advantageous conditions for the coal phase-out. Thus, the risks and uncertainties of the lignite phase-out were unilaterally regulated at the expense of the public. At the same time, the lignite operators RWE and LEAG receive compensation in the amount of 4.35 billion euros, which Appreciate independent experts as unreasonably high. Due to doubts about the compatibility with EU state aid law, the EU Commission has Examination procedure initiated. Meanwhile, the federal government has admitted that the lignite operators' renunciation of lawsuits under the Energy Charter Treaty has increased the compensation.
A frequently mentioned argument for remaining in the Energy Charter Treaty is the expiry clause, which allows lawsuits even twenty years after an exit. International legal experts have recently shown, How this can be defused.
The briefing is edited by PowerShift, attac Deutschland, ClientEarth, Europe beyond Coal, Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung, NaturFreunde Deutschlands, Netzwerk Gerechter Welthandel, Umweltinstitut München and Urgewald.
