Sustainable development, as defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development, is "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." More specifically, sustainable development is a process of change that seeks to improve the collective quality of life by focusing on economically, socially, and environmentally sound projects that are viable in the long-term. Sustainable development requires structural economic change and the foundation of that change is investment. In developing nations with low levels of domestic savings, investment predictably comes from abroad in the form of foreign direct investment. A large and ever expanding number of international investment agreements are in place to govern these transactions. While these accords seek to foster development while mitigating the risk involved in these types investments, many questions remain unresolved. This highly insightful book reflects the contributions of a variety of world renowned experts each of which is designed to provide the reader with valuable perspective on recent developments in investment law negotiations and jurisprudence from a sustainable development law perspective. It offers answers to pertinent questions concerning advancements in investment law, including the negotiation of numerous regional and bilateral agreements as well as the increasing number of disputes resolved in the World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), from different developed and developing country perspectives. It lays out future directions for new treaty negotiations and dispute settlement proceedings, as well as ongoing investment promotion efforts, against a background of rapidly evolving international relationships between economic, environment and development law. It focuses on key issues in investment laws which have emerged as priorities in the negotiation of bilateral and regional investment agreements, and have been clarified through recent decisions of the ICSID and other arbitral panel awards.

Sustainable Development in EU Foreign Investment Law offers a clear and convincing assessment of how the EU contributes to the ongoing debate on sustainable development integration in international investment agreements.

International Natural Resources Law, Investment and Sustainability provides a clear and concise insight into the relationship between the institutions that govern foreign investment, sustainable development and the rules and regulations that administer natural resources. In this book, several leading experts explore different perspectives in how investment and natural resources come together to achieve sustainable development in developing countries with examples from water, oil and gas, renewable energy, mineral, agriculture, and carbon trading. Despite varying perspectives, it is clear that several themes are central in considering the linkages between natural resources, investment and sustainability. Specifically, transparency, good governance and citizen empowerment are vital conditions which encourage positive social, economic and environmental outcomes for developing countries. In addition, this book provides new insights into key concepts which underpin international law, including sovereign rights and state responsibility principles. It is clear from this book that in the attempt to reconcile these concepts and principles from separate legal regimes, complex policy questions emerge whereby it is difficult to attain mutually beneficial or succinct outcomes. This book explores how countries prioritise their policy objectives to achieve their notion of sustainable natural resource use, which is strongly influenced by power imbalances that inform North–South cooperation, as well as South–South cooperation in the international investment regime. This book will be of great interest to students, academics and researchers of international environmental law, international human rights law, international investment law and international economic law. This book may also be of relevance to environmentalists, policy-makers, NGOs, and investors working in the natural resources field.

International investment law deals with the protection of foreign investments and aims to promote development and to protect foreign investments at the same time. It is widely acknowledged that foreign investment is necessary to achieve sustainable development. State parties concluding investment protection treaties always aim to foster economic development. Only more recently, concerns for sustainable development have led to the inclusion of language into investment protection treaties that aims to integrate goals of investment protection and sustainable development. International investment protection and sustainable development share the common goal to have a rule of law based international system that provides a solid legal basis for investments that have as their ultimate goal (sustainable) development. Out of the many aspects that are relevant in the context of investment law and sustainable development this contribution presents the more recent investment treaty practice that contains explicit links and references to sustainable development or certain aspects thereof like protection of the environment, labor standards or human rights related provisions and provisions against corruption. Furthermore, this contribution illustrates methods tribunals have developed in their decisions to consider sustainable development-related aspects through the interpretation of existing treaties that lack explicit references to sustainable development. Finally, the contribution deals with the case law on renewable energy disputes and national regulatory policies. It does so to illustrate how tribunals developed criteria in the assessment of the expropriation provision and the fair and equitable treatment standard that allow States to benefit from their required regulatory space and provide at the same time for the necessary regulatory stability to foster investment necessary to achieve sustainable development goals.

This book analyzes the tension between the host state’s commitment to provide regulatory stability for foreign investors – which is a tool for attracting FDI and generating economic growth – and its evolving non-economic commitments towards its citizens with regard to environmental protection and social welfare. The main thesis is that the ‘stabilization clause/regulatory power antinomy,’ as it appears in many cases, contradicts the content and rationale of sustainable development, a concept that is increasingly prevalent in national and international law and which aims at the integration and balancing of economic, environmental, and social development. To reconcile this antinomy at the decision-making and dispute settlement levels, the book employs a ‘constructive sustainable development approach,’ which is based on the integration and reconciliation imperatives of the concept of sustainable development as well as on the application of principles of law such as non-discrimination, public purpose, due process, proportionality, and more generally, good governance and rule of law. It subsequently re-conceptualizes stabilization clauses in terms of their design (ex-ante) and interpretation (ex-post), yielding stability to the benefit of foreign investors, while also mitigating their negative effects on the host state’s power to regulate.

Events like the Bhopal disaster, the sale of products harmful to human health and safety, and child labour, especially in resource-scarce settings, raise fundamental issues of human dignity and ecological integrity. From a legal perspective, and in the context of Foreign Direct Investment by Transnational Corporations in developing countries, they highlight the lacuna of a holistic international legal framework and its implementation. This book embodies a critique of the complex web of public international law principles on economics, human rights and the environment, and their convergence or lack thereof, related regional (South Asian) and domestic (Sri Lankan) legal arrangements, interventions of states and non-state actors towards just, equitable and sustainable development. It is a quest for a middle path in the multidisciplinary landscape of international law, development and North-South power dynamics; globalization of free trade and investment and of social and environmental interests; and salient aspects of the philosophical, socio-economic and legal fabric of South Asia, viewed against the evolving, controversial and elastic sphere of international relations and law where consensus has hitherto been an elusive dream.

'This masterly written collection, from many experts, focuses on the efforts of policy makers, as well as regional and national interest groups, to invoke International Law as the tool for realizing the objectives of sustainable development. The authors provide a rich vein of recent State and organizational practices that can be profitably mined by both academics and practitioners exploring contemporary perspectives.' ASIL Newsletter UN21 Interest Group, June 2005.

This book examines the integration of human rights and environmental standards within international investment agreements (IIAs). It explores the intricate relationship between foreign direct investment and sustainable development, emphasizing the necessity for reform in investment treaties to ensure they support rather than hinder human rights and environmental protection. The book begins with an overview of the current international investment law landscape, focusing on its primary goal of investment protection. It then delves into how human rights and environmental standards can shape IIAs, suggesting a new approach to these treaties. The authors explore the incorporation of sustainable development principles into IIAs, the difficulty of balancing investor protection with state regulatory autonomy, and the evolving norms and standards in this area. The book includes detailed case studies on topics such as the interplay between labour standards, investment, and human rights, bilateral investment agreements, sustainable forest management, and the liberalization of water services. Aimed at policymakers, legal scholars, and international law practitioners, this book provides a thorough framework for understanding and reforming IIAs. It offers groundbreaking insights into aligning investment treaties with global sustainable development goals, making it a vital resource for anyone interested in the intersection of investment, human rights, and environmental sustainability.

The current international investment law system is insufficiently compatible with sustainable development. To better address sustainable development concerns associated with transnational investment activities, international investment agreements should be made more compatible with sustainable development. Integrating Sustainable Development in International Investment Law presents an important systematic study of the issue of sustainable development in the international investment law system, using conceptual, normative and governance perspectives to explore the challenges and possible solutions for making international investment law more compatible with sustainable development. Chi suggests that to effectively address the sustainable development concerns associated with transnational investment activities, the international investment agreements system should be reformed. Such reform should feature redesigning the provisions of the agreements, improving the structure of international investment agreements, strengthening the function of soft law, engaging non-state actors and enhancing the dispute settlement mechanism. The book is primarily aimed at national and international treaty and policy-makers, lawyers and scholars. It is also suitable for graduate students studying international law and policy-making.