The United Kingdom's decision to exit a 30-year-old fossil fuel-friendly treaty will 'untie a straitjacket' on the country's ability to ensure a just transition toward renewable energy, said one campaign group on Thursday.Officials announced that after two years of negotiations regarding a modernization of the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty —which allows fossil fuel companies to sue governments over profits lost due to climate policies that reduce the use of coal, oil, and gas—the U.
6 billion to compensate for their losses stemming from the Dutch government's planned coal phaseout. A U.K. company also sued Italy for $237 million for banning it from drilling an oil field in the Adriatic Sea. 'The ECT is now a dead man walking, and only those profiting from the destruction of our planet will mourn its passing,' said Cleodie Rickard, trade campaigns manager for Global Justice Now.