Episode 18: Energy Charter Treaty vs Climate Urgency

EU Watchdog Radio

Corporate Europe Observatory and Counter Balance

News, Politics

5 • 1 Ratings

🗓️ 1 March 2021

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this new episode of EU Watchdog Radio we dive into one of the biggest examples of ‘cognitive dissonance’ in recent history. Every (European) policymaker knows by now that fossil fuels should stay in the ground, but yet they keep defending the EU’s membership of a treaty that defends fossil fuel investments: the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT).We’ll be talking with Pia Eberhardt , campaigner and expert on international trade from CEO, who explains the ins and outs of this strange creature and w...

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening.
0:06.0	You're listening to EU, man on the moon, motion.
0:25.2	You're listening to EU Watchdog Radio.
0:32.7	Welcome to a new episode of EU Watchdog Radio.
0:39.3	My name is Hans Van Schare, media officer at Corporate Europe Observatory, also known as CEO. We're living in the year 2021.
0:42.3	The scientists of the IPCC told us we have basically 10 years to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
0:49.3	Therefore, the European Union has declared climate policy the alpha and omega via its so-called
0:56.2	Green Deal.
0:57.9	The new US administration has declared more or less the same, and so many other governments
1:03.2	around the world also claim to take the climate urgency serious.
1:08.1	Now taking climate change serious basically means that to tackle this crisis, we need to, as of today, start keeping fossil fuels in the ground as much as possible.
1:17.6	Taking it serious also means decentralizing energy production and do this via renewables and energy saving.
1:25.6	Taking it serious means that governments need to design policies that tackle climate change
1:31.3	not to promote it.
1:33.3	So knowing all this, what if there would be a global treaty designed by Europe that basically
1:40.3	does the opposite?
1:42.3	A treaty that punishes or threatens those governments, also European
1:46.4	ones, that want to phase out fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy. That sounds pretty
1:52.8	insane, right? Yes, indeed. But such a treaty unfortunately does exist and it's called the Energy Charter Treaty, or ECT.
2:03.6	Via this ECT, governments that phase out coal and gas production or stop oil pipelines
2:10.6	can be sued by corporations in private courts and held liable for billions in damages.
2:16.6	I'll be talking about this to Pia Eberhard, campaigner and expert on international trade from CEO.
	...

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