Climate Change: Standards
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of investor-state dispute settlement provisions on the UK's climate targets.
Answered by Chris Bryant
The UK is party to 78 Bilateral Investment Treaties and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership that contain Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). ISDS provides an independent means to resolve disputes with states where investors believe they have experienced arbitrary, discriminatory or unfair treatment or expropriation without compensation. ISDS does not remove governments' right to regulate in the public interest, including with respect to the UK's climate targets.
The UK has a longstanding record of supporting foreign investment, including through fulfilling its obligations in international investment agreements it is party to.
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