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Supporting Honduran communities affected by corporate assault on Honduras: New data reveals gravity of ISDS claims against Honduras
https://ips-dc.org/corporate-assault-on-honduras-new-data-reveals-gravity-of-isds-claims-against-honduras/
This week, from July 14-16, the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), Transnational Institute (TNI), Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN) and TerraJusta will co-host a three-day convening with local partners, the Network of Women Human Rights Defenders (RADDH), MASSVida y Caritas Honduras, in Choluteca, Honduras: ‘Without Human Rights, Energy Sovereignty Does Not Exist: A Meeting of Communities Affected by Energy Projects in Southern Honduras.’
The Central American country is facing an onslaught of international arbitration claims in secretive corporate courts, over a third of which have arisen from the renewable energy sector. This convening will shine a critical spotlight and offer an in-depth look at the negative impacts and community-driven opposition to the solar energy projects that benefited from deepening privatization and slew of renewable energy contracts approved in 2014, during the period known as the narcodictatorship.
As part of this gathering, on July 14, IPS, TNI, HSN and TerraJusta released updated figures on the arbitration claims against Honduras to complement their groundbreaking September 2024 report, ‘The Corporate Assault on Honduras’.
New suits and greater detail about the amount companies are claiming from Honduras exposes the gravity of the corporate onslaught against government reforms and community-driven resistance to policies and projects that threaten environment, community health, and human rights. The investments involved almost all took place during the twelve-year narco-dictatorship, from 2010 to 2022, many of which gave rise to significant community-led protest and national opposition.
Corporate lawfare
Companies are using international arbitration against Honduras as a means of corporate lawfare to undermine measures that would cut into their potential profits, such as reforms to make electricity more affordable and the repeal of legislation permitting privately governed charter cities.
They are also seeking to profit from failed investments. For example, a private toll booth project is at the centre of a $180 million claim — backed by big U.S. banks, including JP Morgan Chase Bank and two Goldman Sachs funds. It was halted after local communities fought back given how it threatened to hike the price of food, bus fares, and their daily commutes.
Since the 2024 report was published, the number of arbitration claims that transnational and Honduran corporations have brought against Honduras has risen, with two new claims filed in May 2025. Recent data further reveals that the total amount that companies are demanding in claims against Honduras, the second-most impoverished country in the hemisphere, is now $19.44 billion dollars – or roughly 55% of Honduras’ GDP in 2024.
Seven claims have arisen from the electricity sector alone. These claims total over $1.6 billion dollars, more than the estimated savings that the Honduran government anticipates from renegotiating renewable energy contracts under a new law passed in 2022. The electricity companies that are suing Honduras include Norwegian finance development institution and investment fund, KLP Norfund Investments, and X-Elio, which is fully owned by Canadian asset management firm Brookfield.
Transnational corporations have exclusive recourse to sue governments before secretive tribunals through a global web of over 2,500 bilateral or multilateral trade agreements with investment chapters. In the case of Honduras, corporations can sue under provisions in bilateral investment treaties, free trade agreements, contracts and a 2011 Law for the Promotion and Protection of Investments that was passed shortly after [the 2009 U.S. and Canadian-backed] military coup to make Honduras “open for business”.
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