'EU proposes Energy Charter Treaty exit after climate concerns', 7 July 2023

"The European Commission proposed on Friday that EU countries jointly quit an international treaty that has been criticised for blocking efforts to fight climate change because its protection of energy investments extends to fossil fuels.

The 1998 Energy Charter Treaty allows energy companies to sue governments over policies that damage their investment and has in recent years been used to challenge policies that require fossil fuel plants to shut.

Its roughly 50 signatories include European Union countries.

"I proposed that the EU withdraws from the Energy Charter Treaty, because in its current, unmodernised version it is no longer in line with the EU's energy and climate goals," EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said.

In its proposal to leave, the Commission, the EU executive, said the treaty had become "increasingly outdated", and its fossil fuel protections undermined the EU's plans to shift to cleaner energy sources to curb greenhouse gas emissions..."