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Electricity transmission pylons beside the gas-fired power plant, operated by Uniper SE, in Irsching, Germany, on Wednesday, July 7, 2021.
Michaela Handrek-Rehle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

LONDON — The Energy Charter Treaty is not widely known, yet it’s feared the influence of this international agreement could be enough by itself to derail hopes of capping global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The ECT contains a highly contentious legal mechanism that allows foreign energy companies to sue governments over climate action that could hurt future profits.

These “corporate court” cases, sometimes referred to as investor-state dispute settlements, are highly secretive, take place outside of the national legal system and can often lead to far larger financial awards than companies might otherwise expect.

Five fossil fuel companies are already known to be seeking over $18 billion in compensation from governments over energy policy changes and most of these have been brought via the ECT.

For example, Germany’s RWE and Uniper are suing the Netherlands over coal phase-out plans and the U.K.’s Rockhopper is suing Italy over a ban on offshore drilling.

Not only do countries have to get out of that treaty, they have to torpedo it on the way out.
Julia Steinberger
Ecological economist and professor from the University of Lausanne

A spokesperson for Uniper told CNBC: “The Dutch government has announced its intention to shut down the last coal-fired power plants by 2030 without compensation.

“Uniper is convinced that shutting down our power plant in Maasvlakte after only 15 years of operation would be unlawful without adequate compensation.”

RWE said it “expressly supports the energy transition in The Netherlands. In principle, it also supports the measures to reduce CO2 associated with the law, but believes compensation is necessary.”

Rockhopper did not respond to a request for comment.

The number of these corporate court tribunals is expected to skyrocket in the coming years, a trend that campaigners fear will act as a handbrake on plans to transition away from fossil fuels.

Governments that are prepared to implement measures to tackle the climate crisis, meanwhile, could be hit with enormous fines.

“The Energy Charter Treaty is a real trap for countries,” Yamina Saheb, an energy expert and former ECT Secretariat employee turned whistleblower, told CNBC via telephone.

Saheb quit her role with the Secretariat in June 2019 after concluding it would be impossible to align the ECT with the goals of the landmark Paris Agreement. She said any attempt to reform or modernize the treaty would ultimately be vetoed since many member states are heavily reliant on fossil fuel revenues.

Thick smoke, cloud of water vapour comes out of the cooling towers of the lignite-fired power plant Weisweiler of RWE Power AG in Germany.
Horst Galuschka | picture alliance | Getty Images

“If we withdraw, we can protect ourselves, we can start implementing the climate neutrality targets and we can end the promotion of the expansion of this treaty to other developing countries,” Saheb said.

“I think the only way forward is to kill this treaty,” she added. “Either we kill this treaty, or the treaty will kill us.”

The ECT Secretariat was not immediately available to respond when contacted by CNBC.

The treaty has said its fundamental aim is “to strengthen the rule of law on energy issues by creating a level playing field of rules” that help to mitigate the risks associated with energy-related investment and trade.

Who’s involved and how does it work?

The ECT is a unique multilateral framework that applies to more than 50 countries — mostly in Europe and central Asia — and includes the European Union, the U.K. and Japan among its signatories. It is currently looking to expand to new signatory states, particularly in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Signed in 1994, the ECT was primarily intended to help protect western companies investing in former Soviet Union countries in the post-Cold War era. It was also designed to help overcome economic divisions by ensuring a flow of western finance in the east through binding investment protection.

It has since been sharply criticized by more than 200 climate leaders and scientists as a “major obstacle” to averting climate catastrophe.

Dozens of people walk through water due to heavy rains causing flooding in Dhaka, Bangladesh on October 7, 2021.
Sumit Ahmed | Eyepix Group | Barcroft Media | Getty Images

“I think the treaty is probably by itself enough to kill 1.5 [degrees Celsius],” Julia Steinberger, ecological economist and professor from the University of Lausanne, told CNBC.

“I know that 1.5 is a very tight target and there are a lot of things that can blow it, but it is because it basically saves fossil fuel industries … from the financial collapse that they should face for their risky — and honestly criminal — investments in a harmful technology.”

Corporate court hearings brought via the ECT take place in private and investors are not obliged to acknowledge the existence of a case, let alone reveal the compensation they are seeking.

The average cost of investor-state dispute settlement cases is estimated at roughly 110 million euros ($123.9 million), according to an analysis of 130 known claims by think tank OpenExp, and the average cost of arbitration and legal fees is thought to be around 4.5 million euros.

International environmental law experts say that even the threat of legal action is thought to be highly effective in chilling domestic climate action — and fossil fuel companies are acutely aware of this.

That’s because governments may struggle to allocate resources to a single issue when accounting for other priorities. The threat of legal action becomes progressively more powerful as the budget of the country involved becomes smaller.

Notably, a ruling in favor of the state does not lead to zero cost for taxpayers because the defendant state must pay for legal and arbitration fees.

“Not only do countries have to get out of that treaty, they have to torpedo it on the way out,” Steinberger said. “And that’s something a unit the size of the European Union could do.”

A spokesperson for the EU was not immediately available to comment when contacted by CNBC.

The EU completed its eighth round of negotiations to modernize the ECT earlier this month, with the ninth round of talks scheduled for Dec. 13.

France, Spain and Luxembourg have all raised the option of withdrawing if the EU’s modernization efforts fail to conform to the Paris accord.

What happens if countries withdraw?

Italy withdrew from the ECT in 2016, but it is currently being sued because of a 20-year “sunset clause” which means it is subject to the treaty through to 2036.

Around 60% of cases based on the treaty are intra-EU, with Spain and Italy thought to be the most sued countries. Saheb said that given most of these cases are within the bloc itself, a coordinated withdrawal would likely kickstart a domino effect, with states such as Switzerland, Norway and Liechtenstein seen as likely to follow suit.

And if the bloc were to withdraw from the treaty collectively, member states could agree to remove the legal effects of the sunset clause themselves.

“That sunset clause is much longer than many sunset clauses in other treaties but is also completely incompatible with the notion that regulations need to evolve with the changing reality of climate change, to the changing demands of safeguarding the environment and human rights,” Nikki Reisch, director of the Climate & Energy Program at the Center for International Environmental Law, told CNBC.

“There’s a really strong case to make that the application or enforcement of that sunset clause is contrary to other principles of international law,” she added.

A view of open freight wagons full of coal under smog during a day that the level of PM2.5 dust concentration amounted to 198 ug/m3 on February 22, 2021 in Czechowice Dziedzice, Poland. The central eastern European country has the EU’s worst air, according to a report published by the European Environment Agency (EEA).
Omar Marques | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The European Court of Justice ruled in early September that EU energy companies could no longer use the treaty to sue EU governments. The verdict significantly limits the scope of future intra-EU cases and has thrown the legitimacy of a number of ongoing multi-billion-euro lawsuits into question.

“We are not out of the woods yet,” Reisch said. The ruling was an important step to blunting an instrument designed to protect fossil fuel investors, she said, but it does not take arbitration cases by investors domiciled outside of the EU off the table.

“We can’t let our ability to confront the greatest crisis that we have ever faced as humankind, arguably, be held hostage to the interests of investors,” Reisch said.

“I think it is just another reminder of the need to eliminate those legal structures and fictions that we’ve created that really do lock us into a bygone era of fossil fuel dependence.”

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Drive Electric Earth Month, continues this weekend, get your EV Qs answered

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Drive Electric Earth Month, continues this weekend, get your EV Qs answered

It’s that time of year again, time for events across the country to show off electric vehicles at Drive Electric Earth Month.

Drive Electric Earth Month is an offshoot of Drive Electric Week, a long-running annual tradition hosting meetups mostly in the US, but also occasionally in other countries. It started as Drive Electric Earth Day, but since not every event can happen on the same day, they went ahead and extended it to encompass “Earth Month” events that happen across the month of April. It’s all organized by Plug In America, the Sierra Club, the Electric Vehicle Association, EV Hybrid Noire, and Drive Electric USA.

Events consist of general Earth Day-style community celebrations, EV Ride & Drives where you can test drive several EVs in one place, and opportunities to talk to EV owners and ask them questions about what it’s like to live with an EV, away from the pressure of a dealership.

This month, there are 158 events registered across the US and 1 in Mexico (including one online webinar about things to consider when purchasing an EV).

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Events have been happening all month, but the biggest weekend is this upcoming one, APril 26-27.

One really neat event was the Asheville event, which showcased the resiliency of EVs in an area devastated by Hurricane Helene, which was made more severe by climate change. That event was attended by the Rivian R1T which famously got dragged 100 feet submerged in mud and came out running fine.

But the bulk of the events happened on the weekends surrounding Earth Day, April 22, so there were several last weekend and will be even more this upcoming weekend.

There are plenty of events in the big cities where you’d expect, but Plug In America wanted to highlight a few of the events in smaller places around the country. Here’s a sampling of upcoming events:

  • Big Island EV – Cruise and Picnic in Waimea, HI on April 26, 10am-1pm – EV drivers will congregate in various places around the Big Island (Kona, Waimea, Waikoloa and Hilo), then drive up Saddle Road to the Gil Kahele Recreation Area on Mauna Kea for a potluck and a chance to talk about the experience of owning EVs on the Big Island.
  • Santa Barbara Earth Day 2025 and Green Car Show in Santa Barbara, CA on April 26-27, 11am-8pm – This is part of Santa Barbara’s Earth Day celebration, which routinely attracts 30,000 participants and is one of the longest-running Earth Day celebrations on the planet. The Green Car Show includes ride & drives and an “Owners Corner” where owners can showcase their EVs and attendees can check them out and ask questions.
  • Earth Day’25 – EV’s role in a sustainable future in Queretaro City, Mexico on April 26, 9am-4pm – The sole Mexican event, this is a combined in-person/online seminar at the Querétaro Institute of Technology.
  • Norman Earth Day Festival in Norman, OK on April 27, 12-5pm – Another municipal Earth Day festival, with hands-on activities for kids to learn about the environment. A portion of the parking lot reserved for an EV car show for EV owners who pre-register to show off their vehicles.
  • Oregon Electric Vehicle Association Test Drive & Information Expo in Portland, OR on April 27, 10am-4pm – This one is at Daimler Truck’s North American HQ, and will have several EVs for test drives, owner displays (including DIY gas-to-EV conversions), and keynote presentations by EV experts. They’ll even have a 1914 Detroit Electric EV available for test rides!
  • And, we at Electrek want to give a shoutout to Rove’s EV Drive Days in Santa Ana 10am-3pm April 28 – ROVE is the company behind the “full-service” EV charging concept that we’ve talked about several times here on Electrek, and we like what they’re doing for EV charging. They’ve hosted a few community events, and this is their contribution to Earth Month.

Each event has a different assortment of activities (e.g. test drives won’t be available at every event, generally just the larger ones attended by local dealerships), so be sure to check the events page to see what the plan is for your local event.

These events have offered a great way to connect with owners and see the newest electric vehicle tech, and even get a chance to do test rides and drives in person. Attendees got to hear unfiltered information from actual owners about the benefits and trials of owning EVs, allowing for longer and more genuine (and often more knowledgeable) conversations than one might normally encounter at a dealership.

And if you’re an owner – you can show off your car and answer those questions for interested onlookers.

To view all the events and see what’s happening in your area, you can check out the list of events or the events map. You can also sign up to volunteer at your local events, and if you plan to show off your electric car, you can RSVP on each event page and list the vehicle that you plan to show (or see what other vehicles have already registered).


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Trump meme coin insiders have to wait additional 90 days before they can sell

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Trump meme coin insiders have to wait additional 90 days before they can sell

A cartoon image of US President-elect Donald Trump holding a Bitcoin token to mark the cryptocurrency reaching over $100,000 displayed at a Coinhero store in Hong Kong, China, on in Hong Kong, China, on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. 

Justin Chin | Bloomberg | Getty Images

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will have to wait another three months before he can start selling his meme coin.

The $TRUMP token, which debuted in January just ahead of the president’s inauguration, was scheduled to begin unlocking a major tranche of insider-held tokens this month. But Trump token’s official X account said this week that all major unlocks, including the initial cliff and the next three months of daily vesting, would be delayed by an additional 90 days.

Only 20% of the supply of $TRUMP is available to trade. The remaining 80%, held by insiders, is locked under a three-year schedule, with tokens getting released in increments.

Lockups are meant to prevent a rug pull, the industry term for a scheme that allows insiders to quickly get rich while other investors lose from a slumping price. Vesting schedules are designed to reassure retail investors that early backers won’t dump their coins and immediately flood the market.

Read more about tech and crypto from CNBC Pro

The $TRUMP token offered an early indication of the president’s willingness to leverage his power and political brand for financial gain. The market cap quickly surged to $15 billion, buoyed by Trump’s posts on Truth Social and X that declared, “It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!”

On Wednesday, the $TRUMP token soared more than 50% after the project’s website offered the top 220 holders of the token dinner with the president on May 22 at his golf club near Washington, D.C.

As CNBC reported on Friday, Democratic Senators Adam Schiff of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts are calling on the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether the promotion constitutes “pay to play” corruption.

Like most meme coins, $TRUMP has no underlying product or service. Following its launch in January, First Lady Melania Trump swiftly introduced her own token — $MELANIA — which briefly surpassed $2 billion in market value before tumbling along with $TRUMP.

Trump signs executive order to establish U.S. strategic bitcoin reserve

Shortly after the release of the $TRUMP and $MELANIA coins, the SEC issued guidance stating that meme tokens don’t qualify as securities, effectively shielding the projects from immediate regulatory scrutiny.

The token’s creators have already made a fortune despite the trading restrctions. According to Chainalysis, the main wallet behind $TRUMP earned more than $350 million in USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, by acting as a market maker, collecting a fee on each trade.

The Trump family has another crypto project in the works.

World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance venture backed by the first family, has raised $550 million across two token sales since October. Buyers are barred from reselling their tokens and receive no share of profits — but a Trump-affiliated entity is entitled to 75% of net revenue, including token sale proceeds, according to offering documents reviewed by CNBC.

WATCH: Trump meme coin ‘plainly a bad thing’

Trump meme coin 'plainly a bad thing', says Harvard's Timothy Massad

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Podcast: Electrek at Shanghai Auto Show, Tesla earnings, Slate cheap EV pickup unveiled, and more

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Podcast: Electrek at Shanghai Auto Show, Tesla earnings, Slate cheap EV pickup unveiled, and more

In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Electrek seeing a ton of cool EVs at the Shanghai Auto Show, Tesla’s disastrous earnings, Slate’s cheap EV pickup being unveiled, and more.

Today’s episode is brought to you by retrospec—makers of sleek, powerful e-bikes and outdoor gear built for everyday adventure. Electrek listeners can get 10% off their next ride until May 8th with the exclusive code ELECTREK10 only at retrospec.com.

The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.

As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.

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After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:

We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.

Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:

Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET):

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