Berlin, 04/05/2022: With an action in Berlin, a broad alliance of environmental organizations and social movements today called for the exit of Germany and the EU from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT): At 11 a.m., the activists set up a nine-meter-tall, inflatable dinosaur in front of the Federal Chancellery, which symbolises the ‘prehistoric’ character of the trade agreement. The event 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, the States Parties will take stock of the reform efforts. Since the negotiating goals of the German government and the EU are not being met, the organisations are demanding that Germany and other EU member states now decide to withdraw from the ECT.
“The Energy Charter Treaty is a fossil dino from a time when investments in coal, oil and gas should be protected. It is now delaying and making the energy transition more expensive. We can't afford that anymore. If the federal government wants to implement its climate protection targets, it must withdraw from the ECT," says Fabian Flues of PowerShift.
"Totally out of time is the approach of the ECT Secretariat, which wants to continue to make ECT accession palatable for countries in the Global South. The Treaty is not a framework for addressing 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 is nothing more than cosmetics. 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 the withdrawal from the ECT. The alliance will hand over the signatures at 5.30 p.m. to Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State Secretary at 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 the investments of Western European companies. Today, fossil-fuel 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 in compensation for their coal phase-out by 2030.
The number of lawsuits under the ECT is expected to increase over the next few years as states take more and more action to meet their climate commitments. Just recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned in a report that the ECT will make the fight against the climate crisis more difficult.
The ongoing negotiations for the modernisation of the ECT will not achieve the goals set by the EU and the German government, the activists warn. For example, fossil-fuel investments are to remain under the protection of 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 numerous parties in the EU Parliament, therefore call 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/the projectors/no-claims-against-climate protection
Organiser:
Attac Deutschland, Extinction Rebellion, Forum Umwelt & Development, NatureFriends of Germany, Network Just World Trade, PowerShift, Umweltinstitut München, 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
