Berlin, 24.03.2022: Press release by FragDenStaat, Europe Beyond Coal and PowerShift
Too much coal for the coal phase-out? The lawsuit seeks to shed light on the darkness.
Berlin, 24 March 2022 – In order to disclose the background to the German coal phase-out, the three non-governmental organisations FragDenStaat, Europe Beyond Coal and PowerShift have brought an action before the Berlin Administrative Court against the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. This concerns the disclosure of documents on the role played by the controversial Energy Charter Treaty in the coal phase-out. The Ministry has refused to issue more than 100 documents in this context.
The documents requested through the Freedom of Information Act can help to reveal the background to the unusually high compensation to the lignite companies RWE and LEAG. As part of the lignite phase-out, the two companies will receive compensation of EUR 4.35 billion. Independent experts came in a calculation to an appropriate compensation of 343 million euros.[1] Meanwhile, the European Commission has subjected the payments to an in-depth examination, as it has doubts about the adequacy.[2]
Last year, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy cited the contractual waiver of arbitration proceedings by lignite companies under the Energy Charter Treaty as an important factor in determining the amount of compensation.[3] Documents published in the course of a request for freedom of information show that the Federal Government expected "time-consuming and costly" arbitration proceedings in the event of a regulatory coal phase-out.[4] An analysis of the German lignite phase-out comes to the conclusion that the Energy Charter Treaty has made it considerably more expensive and more complicated.[5]
Today, the European Parliament is debating the future of the Energy Charter Treaty.[6] Leading parliamentarians have already called for an exit from the Treaty, as have France, Spain and Poland. Although the new federal government is still pending a positioning, the Energy Charter Treaty will not be able to be reconciled with the requirements of the coalition agreement.[7]
Arne Semsrott, FragDenStaat: “The Federal Government must not decide on billions in funding in the quiet back room. At the latest now it must provide information on how the German coal phase-out came about exactly. The fact that the Green Ministry of Economy does not disclose this information is highly problematic.”
Fabian Hübner, Europe Beyond Coal: ‘When lignite was phased out, LEAG and RWE received taxpayers’ money. With this lawsuit, we want to find out how it came about. Instead of donating billions of euros to lignite companies, the federal government must use the money for a fast and fair energy transition.”
Fabian Flues, PowerShift: “The case of the German coal phase-out shows how much the Energy Charter Treaty makes the energy transition more expensive and complicated. However, the phasing out of coal is just one example of how this treaty stands in the way of a climate-friendly and fair energy policy. This is why the Federal Government, together with its European partners, will have to withdraw from the agreement later this year.”
material
Action ‘Documents relating to the Energy Charter Treaty and the phase-out of coal
Contact:
Arne Semsrott, Project Manager FragDenStaat, arne.semsrott@okfn.de
Fabian Hübner, Coal and Energy Campaigner, Europe Beyond Coal, fabian@beyond-coal.eu, +49 178 6337720
Fabian Flues, Climate and Trade Policy Officer, PowerShift e.V., fabian.flues@power-shift.de, +49 1590 611 3733.
[1] https://ember-climate.org/insights/research/germanys-flawed-lignite-assumptions/ [2] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/de/ip_21_972 [3] https://www.buzzfeed.de/recherchen/energiecharta-vertrag-schiedsgerichte-europa-klimaziele-90214917.html [4] S. last document in this IFG request: https://fragdenstaat.de/anfrage/dokumente-zum-energiecharta-vertrag-und-kohleausstieg/639279/anhang/211025-UIGBescheid-NAMEIIIFinal_geschwaerzt.pdf [5] https://power-shift.de/ect-erhoeht-kosten-kohleausstieg/ [6] From about 10:00 in the livestream at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/plenary/en/debates-video.html [7] In the coalition agreement, the new Federal Government agreed to limit investment protection to ‘direct expropriation and discrimination’. The investment protection of the Energy Charter Treaty goes far beyond that and contains extensive ownership rights for investors. The reform of the Treaty will hardly change that.
background
The Energy Charter Treaty is an international agreement between countries in Europe and Asia. It allows private investors in the energy sector to sue states for compensation before international arbitral tribunals. As part of the nuclear phase-out, the Federal Republic of Germany was sued by the Swedish energy group Vattenfall for about 7 billion euros in compensation. Last year, RWE and Uniper filed a lawsuit against the Dutch coal phase-out by 2030 and paid about 2.4 billion euros in compensation. A process is currently underway to reform the Energy Charter Treaty, which is expected to be completed by mid-year.
