TPP could trump climate accord

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All of this has now been acknowledged, at least implicitly, by world leaders in Paris. But even while our leaders publicly acknowledge these realities, 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 more than 6000 pages of legal text in the TPP, climate change is not mentioned once. On the other hand, entire chapters are devoted to minimising "technical barriers to trade" and ensuring "regulatory coherence". These chapters consist of a range of rules that would turn the move to zero carbon into a legal minefield.
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.

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