These are horrible agreements. Are counter every value Western societies hold dear. It victimizes future generations in abandonment to future markets for Wall Street.
These agreements have to be stopped before they get started.
Trade deal gives polluters power to sue governments who try to implement the Paris agreement (click here)
December 21, 2015
The COP21 climate negotiations in Paris (click here) have culminated in an agreement that global warming must stay "well below" 2C and efforts must be made to limit warming to 1.5C. This is a significant development. It implies we have to move to a net zero carbon economy by around 2050.
This is an unprecedented global challenge, but it is achievable and could lead us to a healthier future. Authors in the Lancet medical journal have called it the "greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century". It will require bold policy changes and planning. Not only must extensive new infrastructure be established, but intrinsically high carbon industries must either reinvent themselves or disappear.
Trillions of dollars' worth of fossil fuel reserves must soon become "stranded assets". A transition of this scale, within the time frame required, cannot be achieved by tweaking current policy at the margins. Nor can we assume that a miraculous new technological fix will arrive in time.
...many are also quietly locking us into investment agreements that would make the transition more difficult. The kind of major policy changes required for the transition to zero carbon are precisely what modern investment agreements are designed to prevent.
The core logic of these agreements is captured in the introductory text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): "to establish a predictable legal and commercial framework for trade and investment ..." In these agreements, the right of investors to a light-handed, "business as usual" regulatory environment is paramount. Considerations like climate change, health and human rights are given either low priority or ignored altogether....
In addition, investors such as fossil fuel companies would be given broad powers to directly sue governments in off-shore tribunals for unfavourable changes in policy under investor-state dispute settlement provisions.
Awarding these powers to the fossil fuel industry is a direct affront to the Paris agreement. Given that trillions of dollars' worth of fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground - investor-state dispute settlement clauses are a disaster waiting to happen....
...The NZ climate change ambassador has dismissed the idea that the TPPA would obstruct future action on climate change. However, this view is directly at odds with the European Union Parliament that recently proposed a specific legal "carve out" in a similar investment agreement, aiming to ensure that investors would not be able to sue governments for policies designed to reduce carbon emissions....
These agreements have to be stopped before they get started.
Trade deal gives polluters power to sue governments who try to implement the Paris agreement (click here)
December 21, 2015
The COP21 climate negotiations in Paris (click here) have culminated in an agreement that global warming must stay "well below" 2C and efforts must be made to limit warming to 1.5C. This is a significant development. It implies we have to move to a net zero carbon economy by around 2050.
This is an unprecedented global challenge, but it is achievable and could lead us to a healthier future. Authors in the Lancet medical journal have called it the "greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century". It will require bold policy changes and planning. Not only must extensive new infrastructure be established, but intrinsically high carbon industries must either reinvent themselves or disappear.
Trillions of dollars' worth of fossil fuel reserves must soon become "stranded assets". A transition of this scale, within the time frame required, cannot be achieved by tweaking current policy at the margins. Nor can we assume that a miraculous new technological fix will arrive in time.
...many are also quietly locking us into investment agreements that would make the transition more difficult. The kind of major policy changes required for the transition to zero carbon are precisely what modern investment agreements are designed to prevent.
The core logic of these agreements is captured in the introductory text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): "to establish a predictable legal and commercial framework for trade and investment ..." In these agreements, the right of investors to a light-handed, "business as usual" regulatory environment is paramount. Considerations like climate change, health and human rights are given either low priority or ignored altogether....
In addition, investors such as fossil fuel companies would be given broad powers to directly sue governments in off-shore tribunals for unfavourable changes in policy under investor-state dispute settlement provisions.
Awarding these powers to the fossil fuel industry is a direct affront to the Paris agreement. Given that trillions of dollars' worth of fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground - investor-state dispute settlement clauses are a disaster waiting to happen....
...The NZ climate change ambassador has dismissed the idea that the TPPA would obstruct future action on climate change. However, this view is directly at odds with the European Union Parliament that recently proposed a specific legal "carve out" in a similar investment agreement, aiming to ensure that investors would not be able to sue governments for policies designed to reduce carbon emissions....
