 ECT, an obscure acronym, and yet it could decide Europe's green future. The Energy Charter Treaty is an agreement signed by 53 countries around the world. It gives corporations mighty powers to sue a country for billions of taxpayer funds, under the claim that the government has harmed their investment. In just one such case, Russia was instructed to pay $50 billion to oil company Yukos. That is the same amount Russia pays per year to provide healthcare to 95 million Russians, or 65% of the population. Investigate Europe reporters peaked in to this black hole. Cases are not decided in national or international courts by judges following laws, but by arbitrators following vague rules that defend the interests of the energy industry, with the whole process marked by a lack of transparency. Lawyers, often plagued by conflicts of interest, rotate between representing clients as counsel and deciding cases as arbitrators, making vast fortunes in the process. And corporations often hide behind sham mailbox companies in order to be able to sue states. How did we get here? In the 1950s, former colonial powers created the system of BITs, bilateral investor treaties, to protect their assets from newly independent states. In 1990, the ECT was launched in Europe. Now, 30 years later, Europe is getting a taste of its own medicine. An avalanche of lawsuits by fossil fuel companies could upend Europe's transition to a sustainable economy. Even just the threat of being sued under the ECT can lead to regulatory chill, a government afraid to pass new laws. In the Vermillion de France case, the French government scrapped ambitious climate regulations just so that a Canadian oil company would not sue. Europe now says it wants to modernize the ECT. But this is near impossible, as it would require the consent of all 53 signatories to the ECT. And even if a state withdraws, a so-called zombie clause kicks in, meaning that the state can still be sued for another 20 years. In the Rockhopper v. Italy case, Italy was sued by a British oil firm under the ECT, despite having withdrawn from the treaty. Investigate Europe shines a light on this treaty that is little known, yet could spell disaster for Europe's green future.