'Portugal announces withdrawal from Energy Charter Treaty', 20 July 2023

"Portugal’s Environment Minister Duarte Cordeiro announced this week that the country has started withdrawing from the Energy Charter Treaty, in line with a proposal tabled by the European Commission two weeks ago.

The Energy Charter Treaty is a multilateral convention signed by 53 European and Asian countries and has been in force since 1998. It allows companies in the energy sector to sue countries whose legislation puts their investments at risk.

“Portugal has made the decision,” said Cordeiro. “It has started the denunciation process, and the motion for a resolution” to quit the Energy Charter Treaty “is in the legislative procedure,” he said during a session of the parliament committee on environment and energy...

...EU member states had to decide by mid-November whether or not to approve the treaty update, except for Italy, which withdrew from the agreement in 2015. The 53 signatory countries must unanimously agree upon the treaty update to succeed.

According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the treaty is a “serious obstacle to mitigating” the effects of global warming..."