Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of investor-state dispute settlement provisions in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on the Government's net zero policy.
On 22nd June 2021 the Government published a Scoping Assessment which outlined the potential environmental impacts of the UK joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). It indicates that UK membership is unlikely to have a significant effect on the domestic energy industry.
Acceding to CPTPP will not prevent the UK regulating in the public interest, including in relation to the UK's net zero ambitions. CPTPP explicitly reaffirms states' right to regulate under international law. It also protects this right through numerous safeguards, including procedural provisions to minimise the impacts of frivolous and unsuccessful investor-state dispute settlement claims faced by states.