Europe’s got a dirty secret.

It could kill the Paris Climate Agreement, and even block EU countries from signing a Green New Deal.

A piece of paper signed 25 years ago gave big oil, gas, and coal companies the power to sue governments for millions over laws they don’t like. And right now, they’re using that power to block green energy projects and accelerate climate chaos.

Citizens all over the EU want a Green New Deal. But that’ll only happen if we rip up this unfair agreement and stop letting fossil fuel corporations boss us around. Italy already did it. Now, the rest of Europe has to follow suit.

With your help, we can crank up pressure on our governments to pull out of the treaty and make the switch to clean, renewable energy -- before it’s too late.

Tell EU member states to pull out of the Energy Charter Treaty!

Thanks to the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), gas, oil and coal corporations can sue governments over regulations that have damaged their bottom line. It can be used to challenge oil drilling bans, the rejection of gas pipelines and taxes on fossil fuels. And it works. Governments are forced either to relax their clean energy laws, or pay billions to fossil fuel companies.

The number of lawsuits under the ECT -- which take place not in normal courts, but in closed-door tribunals -- has exploded in recent years. There have been over 75 cases in the past five years alone, and the majority have been decided or settled in favour of corporations.

Take energy multinational Vattenfall, which was able to remove environmental restrictions on one of its coal plants by suing Germany for €1.4 billion. With the threat of these huge settlements looming, it’s no wonder Europe is being so slow to phase out fossil fuel.

But we’ve got a chance to strike back. All over the continent, people like you and me are pushing our governments to take action against the dirty fossil fuel industry. We’ve elected green representatives and staged millions-strong climate strikes.

Now, we need to use that same people power to end the Energy Charter Treaty -- because if we don’t, we’ll soon be back at square one.

There’s no time to waste -- tell EU governments to stop the fossil fuel industry’s bullying and pull out of the Energy Charter Treaty.

More information