Trade

We are campaigning to ensure trade deals work for people and the planet. We are doing this by calling for an end to corporate courts, which are blocking climate action.

How corporate courts threaten climate action

Corporate courts (formally known as ISDS) can be written into trade rules. They give fossil fuel companies the power to sue governments outside of the national legal system, for things like taking action on the climate emergency. Either the corporations want payoffs in the millions or even billions, or they use corporate courts as a threat to force governments to back down.

These secret tribunals have long been used to oppose environmental protections. Now that we are finally seeing more governments around the world begin to take long needed action to tackle the climate crisis, we are seeing more and more corporate court cases challenging those actions.

• • The Netherlands is being sued by two fossil fuel companies, RWE and Uniper, for phasing out coal power
  • The US is being sued by a Canadian fossil fuel company, TC Energy, after President Biden cancelled the Keystone tar sands pipeline
  • One UK fossil fuel company, Ascent Resources, is suing Slovenia over fracking
  • Another UK fossil fuel company, Rockhopper, is suing Italy over a ban on offshore oil drilling close to the coast