Legislative and Regulatory Frameworks: Reform and Revise

The Natural Resource Charter is a set of principles to guide governments and societies’ use of natural resources so these economic opportunities result in maximum and sustained returns for a country’s citizens. The Charter outlines tools and policy options designed to avoid the mismanagement of these natural diminishing riches and work towards ensuring their ongoing benefits.

The Mining Policy Framework (MPF) is a compendium of best practices in mining law and governance. It was developed by governments to provide a framework to guide governments to come up with a mineral regime for sustainable development. It is available in English, French, Spanish, and Russian.

The Legal Framework Assessment provides a summary of key areas of a host country’s existing laws that will need to be reviewed when a government embarks on an infrastructure project, particularly one involving the private sector.

In addition, checklists, model bid documents, examples of legislative provisions relevant to infrastructure PPP projects, and financing mechanisms for PPP projects are provided.

Available in English, French, and Spanish.

AMLA is a free online one-stop resource for Africa’s mining legal framework (mining codes, regulations and related legislation) with interactive features to provide comparative data. The AMLA guiding template is an annotated document that outlines a menu of legislative solutions to assist countries in the preparation or revision of their mining laws.

FAOLEX is a comprehensive and up-to-date legislative and policy database for food, agriculture, and renewable natural resources developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. It is one of the world’s largest online repositories of national laws, regulations and policies on food, agriculture and natural resources management.

This collaboration between the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution Analyzes Africa’s overreliance on extractive industries and outdated “comparative advantage” models. The paper recommends energy transitions as a foundation for industrialization, economic diversification, and regional integration.

This report provides a comprehensive outlook on how Africa can leverage natural resource endowments during global decarbonization. The French Development Agency and World Bank offer strategies for governance, industrial policy, and technological adoption to avoid renewed resource dependency.

CCSI outlines pathways to achieve universal electricity access in Africa while still meeting climate objectives. The roadmap assesses investment needs and policy frameworks for distributed solar, regional power pools, and large-scale renewables.

CCSI reviews mining contracts since 2015 for evidence of climate provisions. They find such contracts to be silent in key areas such as renewable energy integration, deforestation accounting, and water use regulations. The report recommends governments include stronger climate-related clauses such as climate risk assessments, robust closure plans, and tailings dam design justifications in future negotiations.

In this helpful case study, the authors analyze how Uganda could structure a national mining company to ensure it supports sustainable development. They point to common risks in state-owned enterprises such as inefficiency, capture, and mismanagement. At the same time, they outline governance designs that can deliver transparency and competitiveness.

This briefing outlines how international investment treaties structure the rights of foreign investors and limit host state regulatory authority. CCSI highlights tensions between investor protections and governments’ need to safeguard public interests, including environmental and social outcomes. The note provides an overview of instruments like stabilization clauses and ISDS that frequently arise in extractive sector contracts.

This analysis addresses the escalating challenge of decommissioning offshore oil and gas projects as energy systems decarbonize. It examines financial, regulatory, and environmental dimensions of safely retiring infrastructure, with particular focus on liability risks for host states. The study calls for proactive governance to avoid stranded public liabilities.

CCSI introduces a public sector audience to the key structures of investment treaties and the investor–state dispute settlement system. The primer provides an accessible explanation of how arbitration works, its historical development, and the growing controversies around it. This resource can be helpful to highlight implications for host country policy choices.

CCSI argues that strengthening investment governance is essential to advance climate goals, whereas expanding investor protection architectures risks undermining them. Their argument critiques ISDS as an obstacle to climate-aligned policymaking. The authors advocate for frameworks privileging sustainable development outcomes over narrow investor interests.

This piece explores the risks posed by ISDS for states attempting to govern critical mineral sectors central to the energy transition. It demonstrates that investor–state arbitration can create regulatory chill, constraining governments’ ability to introduce reforms. The authors propose policy and legal strategies to address these constraints.

This report studies how climate-related risks, including carbon pricing, stranded assets, and regulatory shifts, are distributed between states and investors in mining contracts. It finds that contract terms often shift risks disproportionately to governments. Key recommendations highlight more balanced allocations.

This brief notes the shortcomings of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and its incompatibility with climate objectives. It suggests ways in which states might cooperate outside the ECT framework to govern investment, particularly in energy. The authors highlight innovative approaches to treaty design.

This in-depth study compares offshore oil and gas decommissioning obligations across ten jurisdictions. It identifies common gaps in managing liabilities, financing cleanup costs, and clarifying operator responsibilities. The analysis reveals frequent risks of costs shifting from companies to the public sector. For negotiators, it serves as a comparative resource to design contracts that ensure private operators bear full decommissioning responsibilities.

This report examines how investor–state contracts currently allocate liability for offshore oil and gas decommissioning. It reveals weaknesses in contractual design that may expose host states to large costs. Recommendations cover specific drafting techniques to close these gaps.

The guidance sets out how governments can integrate climate considerations into national and local investment assessment processes. It emphasizes aligning investment approvals with net-zero strategies and avoiding projects that lock in high emissions. Tools, evaluation methods, and institutional recommendations are included.

This series addresses political economy realities behind extractive governance, covering issues such as free, prior, and informed consent, transparency, and environmental impact assessments. The authors argue that ignoring political context leaves reforms ineffective. Practical strategies for embedding political considerations into governance are suggested. For negotiators, these insights can help anticipate domestic political constraints that could affect the enforceability of contract terms.

Issue 1: “Free, prior, and informed consent: Getting political to improve impact,” (2020).

Issue 2: “Transparency and extractive industries: Getting serious about politics to get serious about impact,” (2020).

Issue 3: “Tackling the EIA Impact Gap: Addressing Political Economy Realities to Bring Actual Practice Closer to Best Practice,” (2022).

This CCSI piece explores how reform-minded leaders can overcome barriers to improve extractive sector governance. It emphasizes coalition-building, timing, and informed strategies to enable institutional change. Lessons are drawn from comparative case studies.

The paper examines the concept of political will and its influence on reform in the extractive sector. It stresses that “political will” is not fixed, but can be cultivated or constrained by circumstances. Analytical tools are provided to understand and assess will in specific contexts. In a negotiation context, it can be helpful to assess the depth of government commitment to contractual provisions, informing realistic design and expectations.

This status update evaluates how mining companies report and perform against the Sustainable Development Goals. The findings show uneven progress and gaps between commitments and delivery on the ground. Recommendations highlight actionable entry points for improvement. Benchmarks against which to measure and negotiate company sustainability commitments can be helpful for negotiators

This paper reviews fiscal measures adopted during the pandemic in mining sectors of resource-rich states. It shows that many incentives, while easing immediate pressures, risked long-term revenue losses. The report advises caution in using tax relief. For negotiators, it reinforces the importance of protecting fiscal stability in contracts even during times of crisis.

Available in English, French, and Spanish.

The report presents ten innovative policy ideas to modernize mining taxation systems. It emphasizes approaches that improve fairness, capture windfalls, and better align with sustainable development. The ideas are informed by emerging global norms and transition needs. For negotiators, it supplies a toolkit of fiscal design options to insist on fairer revenue-sharing arrangements.