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Columbia University Sustainability Experts Available for Interviews on the Energy Charter Treaty and Climate Investment Policy
Sustainable investment experts from the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) Martin Dietrich Brauch and Lisa Sachs are available to discuss the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), its impacts on climate investment policy, and the steps taken by European Union (EU) Member States to withdraw from the treaty.
On October 19, 2022, the Financial Times reported that the Netherlands joined recent moves by Spain and Poland to exit the ECT, becoming “the third country to announce plans to withdraw from a pact it says stymies plans to tackle climate change.”
These developments come in the wake of a proposed amendment to the ECT, which, according to Brauch, “does not rise to the mounting global challenges regarding energy investment, climate action, and sustainable development” and “would continue to make it difficult and costly for governments to adopt urgently needed climate policy.”
Brauch’s article, published on the eve of the withdrawal announcement by the Dutch Government, had indicated that “withdrawing from the ECT…continues to be the best strategy.” In a publicized Twitter attack, ECT Secretary-General Guy Lentz called the piece “totally stupid” and “awfully long,” before blocking Brauch’s account and others. Lentz’s Twitter account was then deactivated.
Martin Dietrich Brauch and Lisa Sachs can be reached directly at martin.brauch@columbia.edu and lisa.sachs@columbia.edu.
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CCSI, a joint center of Columbia Law School and the Earth Institute at Columbia University, is the only university-based applied research center and forum dedicated to the study, practice, and discussion of sustainable international investment.
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