Law Commons^™

The Role Of Investment Treaties And Investor–State Dispute Settlement (Isds) In Renewable Energy Investments, Ladan Mehranvar, Sunayana Sasmal

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

Achieving our global goals of universal access to clean energy and averting a climate crisis will require a mass scale-up of investments in renewable energy infrastructure, redirecting capital from carbon intensive energy and transport systems. The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that the transformation of the energy system alone will need cumulative investments to reach USD 110 trillion by 2050 to keep the rise in global temperatures to well below 2°C and towards 1.5°C during this century. Of that amount, over 80% will need to be invested in renewables, energy efficiency, end-use electrification, and power grids and flexibility.

The private …

Legal Frameworks & Foreign Investment: A Primer On Governments’ Obligations, Kaitlin Y. Cordes, Lise Johnson, Sam Szoke-Burke, Rumbidzaii Mawen

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Legal frameworks, and how they interact, are often invisible in the day to day. Yet they are powerful forces that influence government actions and that help to shape who benefits and who loses from foreign investment. Understanding these legal frameworks, and how they interact, is critical for anyone concerned with how foreign investment can be better harnessed to support, rather than weaken, sustainable development and human rights.

This primer provides a brief overview of host government obligations under international investment law, international human rights law, domestic law, and relevant investor-state contracts. It also highlights some of the ways in which …

Next Generation Treaty – India’S New Model Bit Makes It Clear That Its Goal Is To Accomplish More Than Investor Protection, Lisa E. Sachs, Lise Johnson, Sudhanshu Roy

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The April release of India’s draft model bilateral investment treaty 1(BIT), which is expected to be approved by the cabinet soon, has generated a rich public debate on its international investment regime. There are important questions about the purpose and content of investment treaties, both in India and other countries. However, some reactions – like Augusts Law Commission report suggesting that the model BIT was not sufficiently investor-friendly – frame the discussion too narrowly, ignoring key questions and objectives behind India’s transitioning investment policy regime.

Making Agricultural Investments Work For Land Users & Communities, Kaitlin Y. Cordes

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Earlier this year, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made an unexpected commitment related to foreign investment in land and community land rights. In a meeting with communities who had raised concerns regarding a British company’s attempts to expand its palm oil production onto their customary land, the President effectively told those communities that they would have the right to say yes or no to further expansion, noting that the company could expand only with the affected communities’ approval.

Toward Win-Win Sustainable Development, Linda Moon

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

An interview with Lisa Sachs, Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment.

Great Debate: Mining In Latin America, Lisa E. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Mining represents a great opportunity for economic growth, especially for emerging economies. It is often seen as the path to prosperity. However, the mining industry is a double edged sword. Countries in Latin America are managing to attract significant foreign investment. In Chile, the extractive sector’s participation in the economy has tripled in the last 10 years, reaching 15% of GDP. In Colombia and Peru, it has doubled to 10% of GDP. The Santos administration in Colombia has made mining one of its top policy priorities.

However, there may be significant downsides to mining, as governments are forced to offer …

Norm Internalization And U.S. Economic Sanctions, Sarah H. Cleveland

Faculty Scholarship

The fifty years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have seen a revolution in the promulgation and universalization of human and labor rights. Human rights conventions have proliferated in the areas of civil and political rights, social and economic rights, and the rights of women, children, minorities, and refugees. Many of these conventions have been ratified by a majority of the nations of the world. International monitoring of human and labor rights compliance is conducted by international institutions such as the U.N. Human Rights Commission and the International Labour Organization (ILO), by regional entities such as …

Investment And Export Contracts In The People’S Republic Of China: Perspectives On Evolving Patterns, Stanley B. Lubman

Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies

The remarkable economic reforms begun in the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1979 have made possible transactions between Chinese and foreigners that were previously unthinkable. But the reforms have also caused, and are likely to continue to cause, dislocations and uncertainties which often impair Sino-foreign commercial relationships as they are embodied in contracts. This article discusses two different types of contracts, contracts to establish enterprises in China with foreign direct investment (investment contracts) and contracts to purchase Chinese products for export (export contracts). It further comments on why these contracts often cannot be implemented according to their terms for …

Equity Joint Ventures In China: New Legal Framework, Continuing Questions, Stanley B. Lubman

Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies

Foreigners participating in equity joint ventures in the PRC since such investments were authorized in 1979 have encountered a variety of problems. New legal institutions have been established to provide a framework for joint ventures but their reach and interpretation of the new rules in practice are still often uncertain. Changes in policy have affected, and will continue to affect, the operation of both joint ventures and the new legal rules. Potential investors need contractual protection against changes in laws, regulations and policies which may affect the joint venture. Some specific issues of importance to foreign investors in China include …