A fossil fuel company suing the UK in a secret tribunal for blocking a climate-wrecking coal mine in Cumbria. If they win, the bill lands on taxpayers, not polluters.
This is corporate courts working exactly as designed. Corporate courts (also known as ISDS, Investor-State Dispute Settlement) are written into trade deals and let corporations sue governments over actions they say harm their profits – even if taken to protect the climate, public health or workers' rights.
They UK blocked the Cumbria coal mine on climate grounds, because of ISDS in our trade deals investors could reach for exactly this weapon. A private tribunal, behind closed doors, with the power to hand billions of public money to a coal company, all as punishment for doing the right thing for the planet.
Meanwhile, UK companies are rampant users of corporate courts against countries around the world that are trying to protect the environment and human rights. The UK ranks worst in Europe for propping up this regime of corporate ransom.
You can help stop this. Sign the petition and demand the UK scraps corporate courts for good.
Photo: Jonathan Goldberg