Which Law Will Win?

The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is a secretive investigator court system, set up to enable fossil fuel companies to sue governments for any real or perceived loss of profits. The Netherlands government is, for example, being sued for phasing out the burning of coal in powerstations. Young victims of extreme weather events (in last year's German floods etc) are now bringing a case to Strasbourg's European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). These young folk maintain that their government's membership of ECT, block any effective attempts to counter the climate crisis. That membership, they argue, consequently violates their right to life (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/21/young-people-go-to-european-court-to-stop-treaty-that-aids-fossil-fuel-investors ). The young activists are effectively suing 12 European governments for signing up to ECT, including France; Germany and the UK. The ECHR is not an EU body but the Brits often assume it is. The UK media routinely 'throw wobblers' after that court rules on immigration cases. It is difficult to predict how the ECHR case will pan out. In any logical world, the right to life (and a viable planet) should trump the right of polluters to profit. Favoured treatment of fossil fuel companies by governments and financial institutions is already scandalous. It will be especially interesting to see whether the UK decides to leave the ECHR (a body it helped set up after the Second World War).