As the climate crisis deepens, a fossil fuel corporation is now suing the UK – potentially for millions in public money – after being blocked from opening a new coal mine.
In 2024, the High Court rightly stopped plans for a new coal mine in Cumbria, recognising it for what it would be: a climate disaster. The mine would have emitted 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year – the equivalent of putting 200,000 more cars on the road. Its impacts on people and planet would be devastating. But now, the corporation behind the scheme is taking the UK government to court.
This is possible because of something called ‘Investor-State Dispute Settlement’ or ‘ISDS’ – the fossil-fuel industry’s secret weapon. ISDS is a clause in trade deals. It allows corporations to sue countries in secretive ‘corporate courts’, when governments implement policies corporations don’t like – policies which protect human rights or the environment.
We should be investing in a just transition to fairer societies built on renewable energy, well-funded public services and equality, into a future where workers and communities here in the UK and in the Global South are supported. Instead, the government could be forced to pay millions of pounds in public money to the polluting corporation behind this damaging project.
It’s time to stop these secret corporate courts and end ISDS. Business Secretary Peter Kyle and Trade Minister Chris Bryant oversee trade deals that include ISDS. They have the power to change the UK’s position and end these secret courts. But they won’t act without public pressure.
Write to them now and tell them to end ISDS.
