ESU2022: How trade and investment agreements entrench corporate power and climate crisis (english)
Channel: AttacD
Date: 2022-08-18

Six years ago, social movements in Europe and the US successfully blocked the TTIP free trade agreement. While this was a great victory for people and the planet, the corporate-driven trade and investment agenda has continued doing business as usual and is already enshrined in existing treaties. For more than 30 years, the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), an investment protection treaty specifically for energy investments, has protected the majority of fossil fuel investments in the EU. Attempts to divest from coal, gas and oil can lead to ISDS proceedings in corporate courts and make the energy transition unaffordable for citizens. But social movements across Europe and beyond are campaigning to end the ECT once and for all. At the same time, the EU continues to try to conclude new free trade agreements. The EU-Mercosur trade agreement is a particularly scandalous one, as it serves corporate interests at the expense of planetary boundaries and animal welfare and advances unsustainable social inequalities. Resistance to this agreement is growing not only in Europe, but also in South America. The forum on trade and corporate capture will discuss how the EU's trade and investment policies benefit transnational corporations and limit our democracies and our ability to stop the climate crisis. We will also debate about how social movements can fight the corporate-driven agenda and achieve real alternatives. 


Martin Konecny
Luciana Ghiotto
Lucia Barcena
Nick Dearden