ActionAid, Pan Africa Climate Justice Alliance Hold Engagement on Energy Charter Treaty
ActionAid International Kenya (AAIK), Pan Africa Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), and the Kenya Young Parliamentarians Association (KYPA) have held a high-level sensitization forum on the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT).
The forum brought together young legislators, legal and energy experts, and key civil society organizations to discuss the implications of Kenya’s engagement with the ECT, and its potential impacts on the country’s energy sector and climate policy.
Issues discussed included;
• Understanding the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and its global implications.
• The expansion agenda of the ECT and its impact on Global South countries, with a focus on East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania).
• The push for Kenya’s potential withdrawal from the treaty and its broader ramifications.
• A platform to engage stakeholders in discourse around energy governance and climate justice.
“Today we are gathered here with members of the Kenya Young Parliamentarians Association looking at some of the bilateral treaties and the energy charter treaty which are treaties that a number of nations in the world have signed and a number of nations in the world are also living.
The Energy Charter Treaty engagement is a conversation that has been going on in Kenya for a number of years now and it got terminated and we’ve seen countries like the EU now leaving this treaty because then there are questions around sovereignty, there are questions around what this means for citizens of republics, especially in the global south. We convened members of parliament to look at this treaty, look at what it means for Kenya, asking questions around interest and whose interest is it.
When we talk about public interest and when we are engaging in these bilateral conversations, are these questions that we examine.” Said Samson Orao Head of programs ActionAid International Kenya.
He further observed that, the entire world is focussing on climate change and ActionAid is working around climate justice and the questions that we ask ourselves is, when the West keeps pushing for investment in fossil fuels, where does that leave countries .
“When the West is talking about localization, where does that leave countries in the Global South? So, we convened here to examine this, and we are calling on Parliament to do its job. We know that treaties are signed through a process that involves an entire conversation or discussion that should include public participation.”
He notes that Parliament must engage in proper scrutiny of these treaties and not just leave it to the executive or members of the Cabinet to sign without going through due process.
“When Kenyans are asking questions around Adani, Kenya Airways, JKIA, and Kenya Power, these are critical conversations that the public has a right to know about.”
The world will be convening in Azerbaijan starting next week for COP-29, where the issues we are focusing on include climate justice. Kenya and other countries in the Global South are among the least responsible in terms of pollution, yet they bear the greatest impact. Look at the flooding that occurred in the country up until May this year.”
“One of the reasons why we are here and creating awareness on the Energy Charter Treaty is the direct link to fossil fuels and we know that fossil fuels are a great contributor to climate change. Energy Treaty has some clauses and provisions that tend to protect fossil fuel investments and as we are looking to a world of a low-carbon future, we are looking at phasing out fossil fuels.
The Energy Charter Treaty tends to protect investments of fossil fuels, and when we sign up to it, it means we may have to compromise some of our climate commitments and climate agreements where we are looking at a world where we are reducing emissions.
And the effects of climate change are felt everywhere, and the people who are most affected are the vulnerable communities where we have seen cases of extreme weather, be it floods, be it droughts, be it destruction of infrastructure.
So when these fossil fuel investments are protected, it means we are extending our provision for phasing out fossil fuels and our provision for reducing carbon emissions.” Said Hope Okuthe from Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance.
The ECT currently has 53 member countries, with the ECT Secretariat actively lobbying countries in the Global South, including Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, to join the Treaty.
Kenya’s commitment to the ECT was formalized in 2017 under the previous Cabinet Secretary for Energy. However, as European countries begin to reconsider their participation, the treaty’s true motives are being questioned, particularly its focus on profit-making rather than addressing the critical energy needs of the Global South.
The Energy Charter Treaty provides a multilateral framework for energy cooperation that is unique under international law. It is designed to promote energy security through the operation of more open and competitive energy markets, while respecting the principles of sustainable development and sovereignty over energy resources.
The Energy Charter Treaty was signed in December 1994 and entered into legal force in April 1998. Currently there are fifty-three Signatories and Contracting Parties to the Treaty. This includes both the European Union and Euratom.
The Treaty’s provisions focus on four broad areas:
The protection of foreign investments, based on the extension of national treatment, or most-favoured nation treatment (whichever is more favourable) and protection against key non-commercial risks;
Non-discriminatory conditions for trade in energy materials, products and energy-related equipment based on WTO rules, and provisions to ensure reliable cross-border energy transit flows through pipelines, grids and other means of transportation;
the resolution of disputes between participating states, and – in the case of investments – between investors and host states; the promotion of energy efficiency, and attempts to minimise the environmental impact of energy production and use.
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