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Energy Charter Treaty: Fossil Fuels

Question for Department for International Trade

UIN 137870, tabled on 14 January 2021

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what her Department's policy is on excluding existing and future investments in fossil fuels from the scope of investment protection in the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT); what assessment she has made of the effect of such an exclusion on the modernisation of the ECT; and if she will make a statement.

Answered on

22 January 2021

The United Kingdom supports the renegotiation of the investment protection provisions in the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), which seek to bring the Treaty in line with modern investment treaty practices. We have not made a policy decision to seek the exclusion of fossil fuel investments from coverage by the ECT nor have we assessed the likely effect if such an exclusion was made.