A petition issued by 358 civil society organisations worldwide including ABColombia call for an end to the Investor-State-Dispute-Settlement (ISDS) provisions in international trade and investment agreements.

As the COP31 global climate negotiations in Antalya start this week, it is imperative that governments accelerate the pace and ambition of climate and environmental action. Addressing the need to end ISDS provisions in international trade and investment agreements is an essential part of that effort.

ISDS has been described as a systematic barrier to addressing climate change by “The Baku to Belém Roadmap” from COP29 together with 30 presidencies, various UN experts’ reports have highlighted it as a “daunting obstacle”  to policy changes to address the climate emergency and to fulfil international legal obligations. 

Foreign investors use ISDS to seek exorbitant compensation from States that strengthen environmental protection. Globally, fossil fuel and mining industries have already won over $100 billion in awards.  Against this backdrop, even the threat of an ISDS case can create regulatory chill, discouraging governments from taking action.

ExxonMobil filed an international arbitration claim against the EU’s carbon capture rules – Brussels’ flagship green regulations, according to the Financial Times. Exxon is seeking an interim order suspending build-out requirements for carbon dioxide storage infrastructure in the EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act. Exxon’s arbitration notice was filed via three of its subsidiaries in Belgium, Luxembourg and the UK, using the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) a Treaty that both the UK and Eu had left. The UK left the ECT in February 2024, as the ISDS protections for fossil fuel investments in the ECT were incompatible with the Paris Agreement requirements to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

ISDS disputes are held in secret tribunals behind closed doors, their chilling effect on climate action can therefore go unnoticed.

Humanity has reached the now or never point for achieving the Paris Agreement, a goal that requires reducing CO2 emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

States should review their existing trade and investment agreements, and also settlement mechanisms for litigation between investors and States to ensure they do not limit or restrict efforts relating to climate change and human rights” Inter-American Court of Human Rights advisory opinion on the climate emergency and human rights

The UK is also facing three ISDS cases, including a dispute over the West Cumbria Coal Mine. This case illustrates the direct tension between climate action and ISDS: although the project never secured all the permissions required to operate, and may never have done so, it has still generated a claim for hundreds of millions of pounds.

West Cumbria Mine

The West Cumbria Mining sought to develop the Woodhouse Colliery near Whitehaven, which would have been the UK’s first deep coal mine in decades. Planning permission was granted in December 2022, but local communities and environmental groups successfully challenged the decision. Although West Cumbria Mining argued that the project could operate on a “net zero” basis, its assessment excluded the emissions produced when the coal itself was burned. In September 2024, the High Court ruled that the environmental assessment should have considered the emissions produced when the coal was ultimately burned (‘Scope 3’ emissions). The company’s applications for coal-mining licences were subsequently refused, citing concerns including mining subsidence and the project’s financial viability.

West Cumbria Mining did not appeal the High Court ruling and later withdrew its planning application. Instead, in August 2025, the mine’s Singapore-based investor, Woodhouse Investment Pte Ltd, together with West Cumbria Mining (Holdings) Ltd, launched the first climate-related ISDS claim against the UK under the 1975 UK–Singapore bilateral investment treaty. The mine was never built, no longer has planning permission, and never obtained the coal-mining licences required to operate. Despite this, investors estimate the claim to be worth between £150 million and £300 million. The dispute shows how investors can seek compensation for expected future profits even where a project never secured the initial permissions it needed to begin extraction.

An International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion, highlighted that States’ have a legal obligation to protect the climate system, including by addressing fossil fuel production.

The world faces a debt and development crisis. ISDS payouts massively increase the debt burden and impede governments’ ability to take climate action.

ISDS claims can reach extraordinary levels because companies seek the projected profits, they say they would have earned over the full life of a contract— often 25 to 30 years—even where a mining project never became operational.

In Colombia, three claims arose from the Constitutional Court’s decision to uphold a ban on mining in the páramos, high-altitude wetlands that are a primary source of the country’s water supply.

• Eco Oro Minerals Corp. claimed US$1.1 billion incl. interest;
• Red Eagle US$130 million;
• Montauk Metals, US$196 million.

All three companies lost their cases, but a successful defence still left Colombia with substantial legal and arbitration costs. In the Eco Oro case alone, Colombia’s arbitration costs amounted to about US$6.2 million. Although the tribunal did not rule against Colombia, it nevertheless ordered the state to pay half of Eco Oro’s declared costs of US$33.3 million. These costs demonstrate the heavy burden that even a successful defence can impose on the public purse. 

Economists have also highlighted the connection between ISDS, rising debt burdens an barriers to climate action. Joseph Stiglitz puts the concern plainly, “investor–state dispute settlements don’t just mean growing debt burdens for countries: they are also a barrier to action on the climate crisis”

Therefore, it is imperative that an international agreement to end ISDS is on the COP agenda and addressed by countries and civil society organisations alike.

Write to your MP about this not all MPs are even aware of this situation!

And sign our petition calling for an end to ISDS HERE