ACTION ALERT: Stop the Toxic Treaty
Marie Yared / Avaaz
(March 2, 2021) — Giant fossil fuel companies are using an obscure international treaty to sue our countries for billions of dollars for shutting down coal plants and oil rigs. But insiders say that with a million voices, we can help fuel an almighty revolt by powerful countries at a critical meeting this week. Sign now with one click to stop this toxic treaty!
This is outrageous — just as many countries are finally acting to stop climate change and protect the planet, fossil fuel giants are suing governments for billions.
It all happens because of a powerful international treaty that almost no one has heard of: The Energy Charter Treaty.
It was designed to encourage energy companies to invest in developing economies, but now it’s being weaponized to sue countries when they try to shut down toxic coal plants and oil rigs — wrecking our transition to 100% clean energy. Companies have already won over $50 Billion from taxpayer funds — and more and more countries are still getting caught in the trap.
But finally there’s a plan to scrap it. Italy has already withdrawn, and now France, Spain and others are calling for the treaty to go. If we champion their call with a 1-million strong petition, it could fuel a major revolt at critical negotiations this week. This is our chance to make sure no one is sued for acting on climate change. Sign now with one click:
THE PETITION
To world governments and all signatories to the Energy Charter Treaty:
As world citizens, we call on you to pull out of the Energy Charter Treaty and stop its expansion to other countries. The treaty is incompatible with the Paris Climate Agreement, and it allows coal, oil and gas corporations to obstruct our transition to a clean energy future. It’s time to disarm fossil fuel firms now, so they can no longer impede urgent climate action and put their interest above our public health and security.
This terrible treaty is basically the exact opposite of the Paris Climate Agreement. It punishes governments for moving off fossil fuels, and keeps us marching into a deadly future of drowning cities, wildfires, and a catastrophic loss of life.
Take Italy: When it banned oil drilling off its coast, a British company sued the government for almost $300 million — nine times more than the company had even invested. That’s precious tax money that could otherwise have been used for renewable energy, schools, or hospitals.
No matter where you are in the world, this treaty affects you. To beat climate change, we need a huge global transition to green energy — but if some countries are being held back, the entire global effort is sabotaged.
Insiders from opposing countries tell us that strong public support could tip the balance on a critical meeting in days, and get a critical mass of countries to quit the treaty.
So let’s make it happen — sign now and Avaaz will deliver our voices directly to key leaders, and with an ad in one of Europe’s top media outlets:
Climate change is the fight of our lives. But there’s now so much momentum on our side — and bit by bit our movement is dismantling the systems that are pushing our planet to the edge. The actions we take today will echo through generations to come. For our children, for the forests, the oceans, and everything we care about, we can’t stop now, and we won’t.
We don’t have much time — critical talks have just started and this is our best chance to fuel the rebellion against this toxic treaty.
So let’s make our call deafening — click to share everywhere and when we hit 1 million voices, Avaaz will deliver them straight to the meeting and run ads in influential media.
829,155 have signed. Let’s get to 1,000,000
Avaaz is a 65-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decision-making. (“Avaaz” means “voice” or “song” in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 18 countries on 6 continents and operates in 17 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz’s biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
• Time for Europe to draw exit scenarios from the Energy Charter Treaty (Euractiv)
• Big energy sues Netherlands over coal phase-out (DW)
• Energy Charter Treaty – Dirty Secrets
• EU governments whipsawed by climate and coal lawsuits (Politico)
• Africa should resist acceding to the Energy Charter Treaty (Bilaterals)
With hope and determination,
Marie, Martyna, Pascal, Luis, Mike, Anneke, Alice, Patricia, Mario, Nick, Daniel, and the entire Avaaz team
