Date: June 17-27, 2019
Location: Columbia University

International investment treaties entrench and exacerbate intra-national inequality by: Providing stronger substantive legal rights to a certain class of actors that in turn strengthen the legal force of their economic rights and “expectations”, with potentially negative impacts on the competing rights and interests of other stakeholders; and Providing unequal procedural rights to a certain class… read more

Proponents often explain support for international investment agreements (IIAs) for their ability to: (1) promote investment flows; (2) depoliticize disputes between investors and states; (3) promote the rule of law; and (4) provide compensation for certain harms to investors – objectives of varying degrees of importance to multinational enterprises, home states, host states, and other stakeholders…. read more

Date: April 1, 2019, 6:15pm – 8:00pm
Location: Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice, New York

By Motoko Aizawa and Brooke Guven
March 29, 2019

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is expected to adopt in July an updated Legislative Guide on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). Absent a fundamental reorientation of the most recently available draft, the UN stands to miss a huge opportunity to help countries achieve Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Here is why.

Prepared for the T20 Task Force on Trade, Investment and Globalization, as an input into the 26-27 May 2019 G20 Summit chaired by Japan, this brief notes that there is growing support behind an international framework to facilitate investment for sustainable development. It suggests that the G20 consider adopting Guiding Principles on Investment Facilitation for Sustainable… read more

The Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration, initiated by the Business and Human Rights Arbitration Working Group, a private group of international practicing lawyers and academics, aims to create an international private judicial dispute resolution avenue available to parties involved in business and human rights issues as claimants and defendants, thereby contributing to… read more

Date: February 19, 2019, 12:10pm – 1:10pm
Location: Columbia Law School, Room 105

Sustainable investing, otherwise know as Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) investing, has become a significant part of the investment management industry since 2006. There is an increasing acceptance of the investment merits of investing with ESG considerations across large parts of the investment industry. The next era of ESG investing will witness an increase in… read more

By Lorenzo Cotula, Brooke Guven, Lise Johnson and Thierry Berger
December 7, 2018

An ongoing multilateral process could provide a unique opportunity to reform a contentious area of global economic governance – but only if it properly identifies the key problems.