7 February 2023
A non paper was circulated by the European Commission to the 27 EU member states stating that “A withdrawal of the EU and Euratom from the Energy Charter Treaty appears to be unavoidable”.
"The Commission services consider option 1 [coordinated withdrawal of EU, Euratom and Member States from the ECT] as the most adequate option"
19 December 2022
French government confirms that France has officially notified its withdrawal from the Treaty
24 November 2022
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution in which it "urges the Commission to initiate immediately the process towards a coordinated exit of the EU from the ECT and calls on the Council to support such a proposal".
22 November 2022
The decision on the modernisation of the Treaty which was planned for the 33rd Meeting of the Energy Charter Conference held under the Chairmanship of Mongolia has been postponed. The Conference expects to meet ad hoc in April 2023 to finalise the discussion on the adoption of the amendments to the ECT.
18 November 2022
The Council of Government of Luxembourg has decided on the country's exit from the ECT.
11 November 2022
Germany's three governing coalition parties announced that the country would withdraw from the ECT and abstain from the Council vote
10 November 2022
Slovenia has announced its withdrawal from the ECT
21 October 2022
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will leave the Energy Charter Treaty at a press conference following an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels
19 October 2022
The french High Council on Climate has published an opinion about the ECT modernization :
"The High Climate Council concludes that the ECT, even in a modernised form, is not compatible with the 2030 climate commitments and objectives of France and the European Union."
"A coordinated withdrawal from the ECT by France and the EU, coupled with a neutralisation of its 'survival clause', appears to be the least risky option for respecting of the national, European and international climate commitments. Such a withdrawal would also raise awareness among all other signatories and limit the geographical limit the geographical extension of the ECT to new parties who would be exposed to the same risks of the same risks of incompatibility between the treaty's provisions and the pursuit of their climate objectives."
18 October 2022
In the Netherlands, the Minister for Climate and Energy Policy Rob Jetten announced the decision to leave the ECT in the parliament
12 October 2022
Spain withdrawal has been also announced by Politico
6 October 2022
Polish parliament adopted a law in favor of a withdrawal of the ECT by an overwhelming majority
25 August 2022
Poland was the first country to initiative an exit from the ECT by sending a draft withdrawal law to its parliament for approval.
24 June 2022
An agreement in principle was announced that will not end fossil fuel investment protection in 23 ECT countries and will end it at a far too slow pace in EU member states and the UK. The text of the agreement is not public. The signatory countries of the ECT will decide on November 22 on the formal adoption of this agreement.
23 June 2022
The European Parliament adopted by a large majority an own-initiative report in which it sets very clear criteria for the evaluation of a possible agreement on the modernization of the ECT and calls for a coordinated exit in case of absence of an ambitious agreement in June 2022.
The government coalition in Germany has also drawn its 5 red lines for a successful modernization of the ECT.
22 June 2022
The Dutch parliament adopted a resolution asking the government to exit from ECT.
21 June 2022
After two years and 14 negotiation rounds to modernise the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), the signatory states meet on 24 June 2022 to try to find a compromise.
Three days before the conference, there are still no prospects of a genuinely ambitious reform, let alone one in line with the Paris Agreement. The only proposal on the table on which they may agree on June 24th will maintain the ECT protection of existing foreign investment in EU countries in fossil fuel for at least another decade and in gas power plants until 2040. In case an agreement in principle is reached by June 24th, the ECT might well be extended to several countries that host large fossil fuel investments.
There is no known end date for the protection of foreign investment in fossil fuels in other contracting parties to the treaty.
- Spanish Deputy Prime Minister, Teresa Ribera, said
“After 14 rounds of negotiations without substantive progress, it is clear that the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty will fail to ensure the alignment of the ECT with the Paris Agreement and the objectives of the European Green Deal.
At a time when accelerating a clean energy transition has become more urgent than ever, it is time that the EU and its Member States initiate a coordinated withdrawal from the ECT.”
Pascal Canfin, French Member of the European Parliament, Renew, and Chairman of the Environment Committee said: "We have reached the end of the negotiations (...) Now we have to organise the exit from the #ECT, and the Europeans have to agree not to apply the twenty-year clause any more"
4 April 2022
The recent IPCC report mentions specifically the ECT as a barrier to climate mitigation policies. The report states
"A large number of bilateral and multilateral agreements, including the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty, include provisions for using a system of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) designed to protect the interests of investors in energy projects from national policies that could lead their assets to be stranded. Numerous scholars have pointed to ISDS being able to be used by fossil-fuel companies to block national legislation aimed at phasing out the use of their assets" (IPCC, 2022, Chapter 14 on international collaboration, Lines 9 to 14, page 81)