EU to finally exit ‘climate-wrecking’ energy treaty

(EurActiv, 6 Mar 2024) The European Union is poised to agree on a joint exit from a controversial energy investment protection agreement that activists say is a roadblock to the bloc’s path toward climate neutrality.

Launched in the 1990s to safeguard energy investments of former Eastern Bloc countries, the Energy Charter Treaty has become a tool used by incumbent fossil energy companies to safeguard their business in the face of perceived EU climate action legislation overreach. 

Climate change advocates campaigned against the treaty for years, prompting several EU countries to announce their exit, before the European Commission proposed the bloc make a coordinated exitin July 2023. 

On Wednesday (6 March), ambassadors from EU countries agreed a proposal – paving the way for formal adoption at a ministers’ meeting on Thursday. There would be the “final adoption of the text on withdrawal tomorrow,” said a member state source familiar with the  negotiations.

The European Parliament is expected to vote in April backing the exit, which is mostly considered a formality.

“The EU is finally withdrawing from the climate-wrecking Energy Charter Treaty,” cheered German Greens/EFA deputy Anna Cavazzini.

External link

EurActiv, 6 Mar 2024: EU to finally exit ‘climate-wrecking’ energy treaty