Energy Charter Treaty: Towards a New Interpretation in the Light of Paris Agreement and Human Rights

Abstract

In addition to climate change, the current war in Ukraine has highlighted the urgency of a rapid transformation to post-fossility. This paper analyses the much-lamented negative climate policy and energy transition impacts of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) in international law, a treaty that serves as a basis for the compensation claims of fossil fuel companies in response to losses incurred because of climate policy measures. Methodologically, a legal interpretation is conducted, i.e., the ECT is interpreted grammatically and systematically. It is shown that, with a revised legal interpretation of the ECT, such claims usually cannot be upheld at all, except in the case of direct expropriations. This is further underlined by a legal interpretation of the ECT based on the Paris Agreement and on international human rights law. The arbitral ECT tribunals would therefore have to dismiss claims and if they do not do so then, for example, EU member states could take action against such verdicts of the arbitral tribunals before the ECJ. Even if all of this was to be disputed, there are also considerable possibilities for the contracting states to subsequently exclude claims for compensation. Nevertheless, there are a lot of arguments in favour of a comprehensive reform of the treaty. However, to do so as currently planned, with transitional periods, is not sufficient.

Review of Methods for Diagnosing the Degradation Process in Power Units Cooperating with Renewable Energy Sources Using Artificial Intelligence

“…This is important in meeting the climate requirements imposed by governments or global organizations [12,13]. As a result, the Paris Agreement [14] was created, the main goal of which is to prevent global warming [15,16]. Thus, power plants producing energy must operate at the highest possible and constant efficiency [17,18], taking into account green energy production [19] from nonstable wind and photovoltaic farms [20].…”

“…Most countries aim to significantly increase the share of renewables in electricity generation by 2050. Some Energies 2023, 16, 6107 2 of 28 works report even 100% [26,27]. This approach leads to an increase in the installed capacity of renewable energy sources but also to an expansion of energy storage of various types [28].…”