The global fight against climate change demands a swift transition to cleaner energy sources. Underscoring this urgency, the 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (also known as the “Paris Agreement”) (“COP 28“), held in Dubai in November 2023, called for ambitious goals. At this conference, nearly 200 countries called for: tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency by 2030; accelerating efforts towards the phase-down of unabated coal power; phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, and other measures that drive ..read more

This year’s ITA-IEL-ICC Joint Conference on International Energy Arbitration (the “Conference”), co-organised by the Institute for Transnational Arbitration was a whistle-stop tour of the new frontiers facing arbitration practitioners focused on the energy sector. There were, however, two themes that emerged as particularly significant: (i) the transition towards lower carbon economies; and (ii) the effects of geopolitical tensions, further discussed below.   (i) The Low Carbon Transition The concept, the “Low Carbon Transition”, refers to a shift from economies heavily dependen ..read more

At the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, December is the month to thank our readers and collaborators for their readership, contributions, and support. This is also one of the occasions in which we highlight and we praise our excellent editors.   The Kluwer Arbitration Blog will celebrate 15 years of existence in 2024. On 28 January 2009, the first post was published, announcing the creation of the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, under the editorial guidance of Prof. Roger Alford, and with several permanent contributors, including Gary Born and Martin Hunter. At the outset, Gwen de Vries, Director C ..read more

Following the morning session which explored the geopolitics of international arbitration, the next generation of dispute resolution and the freshly-minted draft SIAC Rules (see Part 1), the afternoon session probed into regional and topical dimensions of international arbitration through six technologically-driven and interactive panel discussions.   I. Regional Developments, Trends & Forecasts   Illuminating Top Trends in South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East The first regional panel discussion, moderated by Ms Shwetha Bidhuri (SIAC), delved into key developments in arbitrati ..read more

On June 7, 2023, an ICC tribunal issued an award that will redefine risk allocation in the construction industry. The arbitration was initiated by Refinería de Cartagena S.A.S. (“Reficar”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ecopetrol S.A., which is in turn owned by the Republic of Colombia, against Chicago Bridge & Iron Company NV., CB&I UK LTD, and CBI Colombiana S.A. (jointly “CB&I”). In this arbitration, Reficar mainly sought reimbursement of costs paid to CB&I that were not reasonably and properly incurred in the construction of one of the biggest industrial projects in Latin Am ..read more

On an exceptionally sunny day in Vancouver, Canada, Vancouver International Arbitration Centre (VanIAC) and International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) hosted a joint conference entitled “Energy Infrastructure Disputes and Arbitration: Today and Tomorrow”. The one-day conference kicked off with a traditional welcome by Wilson Williams (Sxwíxwtn) of the Squamish Nation on June 2, 2023. After opening remarks from Craig Chiasson (Borden Ladner Gervais) and Lucy Reed (Arbitration Chambers / ICCA), and the official launch of the ICCA Award Series, the first panel was underway.   Cl ..read more

During the first days of June, the scenic Canadian city of Vancouver hosted several events of interest to the arbitration community. The biggest of these was the June 2 joint conference organized by the Vancouver International Arbitration Centre (“VanIAC”) and the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (“ICCA”), which will be discussed in a separate blog post tomorrow. On the eve of that conference, ICCA’s young practitioners group (“Young ICCA”) and the Young Canadian Arbitration Practitioners (“YCAP”) joined forces to convene an event concerning the “Arbitration of Energy and Clima ..read more

The energy transition lies at the heart of climate change mitigation efforts.  A new survey by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) in collaboration with Pinsent Masons, the Future of International Energy Arbitration Survey Report, (“the Energy Report” or “the 2022 QMUL Survey”) (see also here) offers guidance to anticipate and mitigate those risks for companies and counsel participating in energy transition projects. This latest in the series of QMUL surveys was conducted from May to October 2022, during a tumultuous period for the global economy and especially the energy sector, rocke ..read more

The Panel “The Future of Major Energy Projects Crises, Challenges, and Opportunities” took place on the penultimate day of the London International Disputes Week 2023 (“LIDW 2023”) on 18th May 2023 in the London office of McDermott Will & Emergy with panellist Armando Neris from McDermott Will & Emery, Lucian Ilie from Outer Temple Chambers, Stuart Amor from FTI Consulting, Professor Crina Baltag from Stockholm University and Chloe Carswell from Reed Smith. Moderator Professor Loukas Mistelis opened the panel and noted that five topics would form the focus of the discussions. &nbs ..read more

The modernization of the European Charter Treaty (ECT) has been debated among scholars, with some supporting it and others criticizing the process and outcome. The vote on the modernization was postponed indefinitely due to ongoing debates about the Treaty’s future, including various withdrawals from it. The modernization process encapsulates broader reform efforts and attempts to balance protecting foreign investment while preserving host state sovereignty. This post compares the Modernized ECT with other ISDS reform processes, namely the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USCMA) and the ..read more