Campaigners from Sheffield Friends of the Earth and Global Justice Sheffield joined people from across the UK and around the world on Saturday 17 October to challenge Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), a little-known legal system that allows multinational corporations to sue governments over laws and policies that could affect their profits.
As part of the global day of action, local campaigners held a stall on The Moor in Sheffield to speak with residents and highlight concerns about the impact ISDS can have on democracy, climate action and public spending.
ISDS provisions are written into international trade and investment treaties and enable foreign investors to bring claims against governments before international tribunals. Critics argue the system gives corporations extraordinary powers to challenge decisions made in the public interest.
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| Picture Credit: Sheffield Friends of the Earth |
Julia Hammond from Sheffield Friends of the Earth said,
"Most people in Sheffield have never heard of ISDS, but they are often shocked to learn that multinational corporations can sue governments for taking action on climate change, environmental protection or public services, with taxpayers potentially picking up the bill."
Julia continued: "The Whitehaven coal mine dispute shows why so many people are concerned about ISDS. After planning permission for the mine was quashed by the courts because its climate impacts had not been properly considered, investors launched an ISDS claim against the UK Government. It raises serious questions about whether fossil fuel companies should be able to seek compensation when governments and courts act to protect the environment."
Campaigners and many legal experts argue that ISDS gives corporations excessive influence, undermines democratic decision-making, and can discourage governments from introducing ambitious environmental, public health and human rights protections for fear of costly legal challenges.
Local campaigners say the issue matters to Sheffield residents because the costs of defending and settling ISDS claims are ultimately borne by the public.
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| Picture Credit: Sheffield Friends of the Earth |
Oliver Blensdorf of Global Justice Sheffield said: “in April 2025, to protect jobs, and the UK’s steel industry, the UK Government nationalised British Steel's Scunthorpe works after its owner, Jingye, planned to close the site's blast furnaces. Jingye has since launched an IDSD appeal for “compensation” for “lost profit" under the UK-China investment treaty, in order to make the rescue unaffordable”.
Oliver continued: “In recent years, threatened by more and more countries planning to go green, fossil fuel companies in particular have begun to defend their huge, climate-wrecking profits by making systematic use of ISDS appeals to claim completely unaffordable public-money pay-outs – from our taxes, increased debt, or cuts to public services – often running into billions of pounds”.
“For example, in order to end oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, Denmark was intimidated into avoiding risking ISDS claims, by setting a deadline of 2050 instead of the 2030 or 2040 it had really wanted – citing the threat of ‘incredibly expensive compensation claims’”,
"And in 2017, when renowned French environmentalist Nicolas Hulot was made Environment Minister and – with strong public support – drafted a law to end fossil fuel extraction in France by 2040, within a year he had been forced, by the threat of unaffordable ISDS claims, to reverse the whole plan, and resigned”.
The global coalition behind the day of action is calling on governments to remove ISDS provisions from existing treaties, reject their inclusion in future trade and investment agreements, and work towards the international phase-out of the system.
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| Picture Credit: Sheffield Friends of the Earth |