On 19 March 2026, 220 legal and economic experts wrote to President Gustavo Petro urging him to take global leadership and launch a broad alliance of countries committed to unwinding the Investor-State-Dispute-Settlement mechanism (ISDS) at the first ever International Conference on Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, in Santa Marta, Colombia in that will be held at the end of April.  This conference came out of COP 30 and is. This came out of COP30 and is a diplomatic process co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands to advance international cooperation on transitioning away from fossil fuel extraction. ISDS is a major obstacle to this transition process, therefore discussions on ISDS will take the centre stage at the International Conference.

The UK in order to fulfil its policy decision to transition away from fossil fuels without being sued in international tribunal for hundreds of millions, exited the Energy Charter Treaty. ABColombia therefore asks that the UK Government similarly support Colombia’s efforts to Transition Away from Fossil Fuels by ending the Colombia-UK Bilateral Investment Agreement bilaterally.

TAKE ACTION and sign a letter to the UK Government asking them to end ISDS in the Colombia-UK Bilateral Investment Agreement – and end a major obstacle to just transition away from fossil fuels link to letter here

Well known and highly respected legal and economic experts like Joseph Stiglitz, Professor, Columbia University, USA, Ha-Joon Chang, Professor, SOAS University of London, Jayati Ghosh, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst and David Boyd, Former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and environment, Rob Davies, Former Minister of Trade and Industry, South Africa, Robert H. Wade, London School of Economics, are among the 220 that signed the letter to Petro stating:

We [220 global experts] urge you to seize the moment by giving effect to your decision to begin removing Colombia from ISDS, and launching a broader alliance of countries committed to unwinding ISDS.

They go on to point out that while “proponents argue ISDS can protect investors from unfair treatment, in practice it has become a tool through which corporations can challenge non-discriminatory public policies on the basis that they affect corporate profitability, rather than because they discriminate against investors. This dynamic raises significant concerns about states’ ability to regulate freely in the public interest, including in the context of climate action.” (emphasis added)

It is clearly spelt out by the experts signing the letter that in-depth studies have shown that there is no meaningful connection between ISDS, attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and economic development. Brazil, South America’s largest recipient of foreign investment has never had ISDS.

The International Conference is  a rare opportunity to scale back ISDS and ensure that it does not stand in the way of a Just transition away from fossil fuels. The letter states “across the world, governments are reassessing investment treaties and stepping back from ISDS… South Africa, India, Indonesia, Ecuador, and Bolivia have terminated ISDS-enforced agreements after determining that they were not in their national interests.”

Across the world, governments are reassessing investment treaties and stepping back from ISDS.

The UK along with half of Europe have withdrawn from the Energy Charter Treaty, the largest multilateral agreement with ISDS, due to the threat of being sued by fossil fuel multinational corporations for changes in environmental policy they wanted to make to address the climate crisis.   

The experts point out why the Conference is such a unique and important opportunity that should not be lost, “ISDS is mostly treaty-based, durable reform cannot be purely unilateral. It requires coordination among states that recognise the structural contradiction between expansive investor protections and the rapid decarbonization demanded by science and international law. The Santa Marta conference provides a unique platform to initiate such coordination… with an invitation to other governments to explore collective disengagement, … [and] catalyze a coalition of countries working towards a world free of ISDS… [by] galvanize coordinated international action [and] leaving a lasting legacy.”

The Santa Marta conference provides a unique platform to galvanize coordinated international action and leave a lasting legacy.