Are Investor-State Dispute Settlements Threatening Climate Progress?

It’s hard to pass policy that adequately addresses climate change, public health, and other environmental issues. When a country does succeed in passing such policy, multinational corporations have recourse to an international investment court system that can allow them to sue the government for millions, even billions of dollars. These cases are decided behind closed doors by a group of commercial lawyers, so the public rarely learns about them. Today, we’ll cover the nature of these investor-state dispute settlements, the threat they pose to climate progress, and how the system might be reformed. With special guest Dr. Kyla Tienhaara, Canada Research Chair in Economy and Environment at Queen’s University. ______________ 00:00 Start 01:14 The Keystone XL Pipeline’s legal dilemma 03:42 How do investor-state dispute settlements work? 05:28 What are the criticisms of ISDS? 08:35 Oil platform case: Rockhopper v. Italy 11:35 Toxic chemical cases: S.D. Myers v. Canada and Ethyl Corporation v. Canada 12:44 Public health case: Phillip Morris v. Australia 14:51 ISDS regularly results in cases against the public interest 16:06 ISDS can scare a country away from popular environmental and health policies 17:28 ISDS reform 19:21 Funding ISDS 20:27 Host Ethan Brown’s final thoughts 21:56 Introducing special guest Dr. Kyla Tienhaara, Canada Research Chair in Economy and Environment at Queen’s University 22:12 New paper on ISDS and fossil fuel assets 24:26 Book: “The Expropriation of Environmental Governance: Protecting Foreign Investors at the Expense of Public Policy” 26:41 How big of an impediment is ISDS for climate progress? 28:29 What was ISDS supposed to accomplish? 30:09 Why do countries continue writing ISDS into treaties? 31:53 Can mediators be unbiased or held accountable? 34:37 Can ISDS be reformed in one fell swoop, or is it treaty-by-treaty? 38:07 End credits ______________ Each episode of The Sweaty Penguin invites you to explore one climate change issue in depth, guided by an expert in the field. The goal? To make environmental issues less politicized and more fun, so that people of any political ideology or interest level can learn, engage, and find common ground. To access The Sweaty Penguin video playlist: https://bit.ly/3CMrYaF You can also listen to The Sweaty Penguin on: Peril and Promise: https://to.pbs.org/3COhqrj Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3IjcPyo Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3tilUDw Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3MXBegx The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Peril and Promise or The WNET Group. ______________ Peril and Promise is a public media initiative from The WNET Group, reporting on the human stories of climate change and its solutions. You can learn more at https://pbs.org/perilandpromise Major funding for Peril and Promise is provided by Dr. P. Roy Vagelos and Diana T. Vagelos with additional funding from The Marc Haas Foundation, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, and the Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family.