Dr. Yamina Saheb:

No, the proposal from the EU is to not protect new investment in fossil fuels but to continue the protection of renewables, which are currently protected by the ECT, because the ECT protects all investment in energy supply, without any distinction. The proposal from the Commission was to stop the protection of new investment in fossil fuels by the time the treaty will be amended, which we do not know, because one thing we need to keep in mind is that there is no end date for the modernisation process. This is also something that Ireland and other countries should ask for. There is no end date. The EU proposed to keep the protection of investment in fossil fuels that are already protected, and in the case of gas, until 2040, if we could convert them to hydrogen. This proposal was rejected by the contracting parties and what they are discussing now is the differentiated phase-out of the protection of fossil fuels. There is no agreement yet about what that will mean and how it is going to be. One of the proposals that was discussed last month was that in the EU we will not protect new investment in fossil fuels but it will continue for the existing ones. Existing EU fossil fuel companies such as Total or BP will still be protected in countries where there is no phase-out of the protection of fossil fuels. That was one of the options on the table, but there was no agreement on it.

The main points we need to keep in mind is that during this decade, if we look at the International Energy Agency report, it is saying that by 2050 we should not invest in fossil fuels any more, so it is during this decade, from a climate perspective, that we need to phase out all fossil fuels. What it means for us, those who are parties to the ECT, is that when we will have to phase out anyway, we will be sued and taxpayers' money will be used for the compensation of fossil fuel companies. This is what is going to happen. It has already started, but it is going to accelerate. EU countries will be the first victims because we are the first ones to implement and the only one in the ECT constituency with the climate targets - our countries plus Switzerland and Norway.