Netherlands joins Spain as latest country to quit the Energy Charter Treaty

摘要

The Netherlands will pull out of the Energy Charter Treaty, a global agreement that is under pressure for shielding new oil and gas sector investments, the country’s energy ministry said Oct. 19, less than a week after Spain also became the latest country to announce plans to drop out of the accord. Signed in 1994 and covering projects dating from 1998, the ECT is an investment agreement between 53 countries covering energy sector infrastructure and projects designed to promote energy security. At the time, the ECT’s focus was to help secure European access to oil and gas from the former Soviet Union and came well before climate targets from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.