Obscure Court System Doles Out Billions in Public Money to Private Interests

[marmar]

Obscure Court System Doles Out Billions in Public Money to Private Interests
It largely evolved to constrain national pushes for social and environmental regulation.

ARTHUR NESLEN


More than $100 billion of public money has been awarded to private investors in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) courts, according to the most comprehensive analysis yet.

The controversial arbitration system which allows corporations to sue governments for compensation over decisions they argue affect their profits is largely carried out behind closed doors, with some judgments kept secret. But, according to a global ISDS tracker which launches today, $114 billion has so far been paid out of the public purse to investors—about as much as rich nations provided in climate aid in 2022.

Fossil fuel companies have been by far the biggest beneficiaries of the corporate panels, raking in $80.2 billion since 1998, according to the site. If current trends continue, at least another $48 billion will be disbursed to settle cases currently under litigation, the research finds.

Lucía Bárcena of the Transnational Institute, one of the three groups that created the tracker, said: “Much like the British government paid slaveholders around [$9 trillion] in today’s money for ending slavery, the ISDS mechanism continues a system where corporate perpetrators get paid for finally doing the right thing, or at least for stopping with doing the wrong thing. This money should be spent on reparations for the innocent victims of global heating not handed out to the corporations responsible for causing it.” .............(more)

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2024/06/isds-investor-state-court-billions-private-corporations/