The controversial arbitration system, which allows corporations to sue governments for compensation over decisions they argue affect their profits, is largely carried out behind closed doors, with some judgments kept secret. But, according to a global ISDS tracker that launches today, $114bn has so far been paid out of the public purse to investors - about as much as rich nations provided in climate aid in 2022.
Fossil fuel companies have been by far the biggest beneficiaries of the corporate panels, raking in $80.21bn since 1998, according to the site. If current trends continue, at least another $48bn will be disbursed to settle cases currently under litigation, the research finds.
Lucía Bárcena of the Transnational Institute, one of the three groups that created the tracker, said: "Much like the British government paid slaveholders around £7tn in today's money for ending slavery, the ISDS mechanism continues a system where corporate perpetrators get paid for finally doing the right thing, or at least for stopping with doing the wrong thing. This money should be spent on reparations for the innocent victims of global heating, not handed out to the corporations responsible for causing it."
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