PM: Action against climate-damaging Energy Charter Treaty

Berlin, 4 May 2022: With an action in Berlin, a broad alliance of environmental organizations and social movements today called for Germany and the EU to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT): At 11 a.m., the activists set up a nine-metre inflatable dinosaur in front of the Federal Chancellery, which symbolises the ‘prehistoric’ nature of the trade agreement. The campaign took place as part of a Europe-wide tour through eight European countries. The ECT-Dino was launched in Lisbon on 25 April. Other stations are Madrid, Barcelona, Vienna, Prague, Brussels and Luxembourg.

According to activists, the ECT, like dinosaurs, should be a thing of the past. It protects investments in fossil fuels and blocks action against climate change. The modernisation of the ECT has been under negotiation in Brussels since April 2020. On 24 June, States Parties will take stock of reform efforts. Since the negotiating goals of the Federal Government and the EU are not achieved, the organisations demand that Germany and other EU member states now decide to withdraw from the ECT.

“The Energy Charter Treaty is a fossil dinosaur from a time when investments in coal, oil and gas should be protected. Now it is delaying and making the energy transition more expensive. We can't afford that anymore. If the German government wants to implement its climate protection goals, it must withdraw from the ECT," says Fabian Flues of PowerShift.

"The ECT secretariat's approach, which wants to continue to make ECT accession palatable for countries in the Global South, has fallen completely out of time. The Treaty is not a framework to address issues of sustainable, self-determined energy supply. Rather, the ECT knowingly exposes the candidate countries to the risk of costly investor lawsuits," says Hanni Gramann of Attac.

"Even before the start of negotiations on a reform of the ECT, it was clear that: There's nothing more than cosmetics in it. The fact that the EU failed with all three reform goals is dramatic, but shows: The EU must now terminate the anti-climate agreement!" says Ludwig Essig from the Environmental Institute.

In a petition, more than one million people across Europe have also called for withdrawal from the ECT. The Alliance will hand over the signatures at 5.30 p.m. to Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection.

background

The ECT is an international trade and investment agreement that entered into force in 1998 and now has over 50 member states in Europe and Asia. The aim of the ECT was to open up the oil and gas reserves of the former Eastern Bloc to investment by Western European companies. Today, fossil companies under the ECT can sue governments for virtually any action that could affect their profit margins, including climate action. Last year, RWE and Uniper sued the Dutch government for billions of dollars in compensation for their coal phase-out by 2030.

It is expected that the number of lawsuits under the ECT will increase in the coming years as states take more and more measures to meet their climate commitments. In a recent report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that the ECT will make the fight against the climate crisis more difficult.

The ongoing negotiations on the modernisation of the ECT will not achieve the goals set by the EU and the Federal Government, the activists warn. For example, fossil investments should be protected by the ECT for at least another ten years – a serious hurdle in the fight against climate change. The controversial arbitral tribunals should also remain unreformed in the Treaty. The organisations, like members of many parties in the EU Parliament, are therefore calling on the EU Commission to withdraw in a coordinated manner.

Photos:

Photos can be found after the action under the following link: https://www.picdrop.com/dieprojektoren/Keine-Klagen-gegen-Klimaschutz

Organiser:

Attac Germany, Extinction Rebellion, Forum Umwelt & Development, NatureFriends of Germany, Network of Fair World Trade, PowerShift, Environmental Institute Munich, Urgewald

Contacts:

Fabian Flues (PowerShift): fabian.flues@power-shift.de, 0159 061 137 33

Hanni Gramann (Attac): hanni.gramann@attac.de, 0176 306 087 62

Ludwig Essig (Environmental Institute): le@umweltinstitut.org, 0157 514 475 64