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Key Message

Without investment, sustainable development is impossible. Well planned, high quality foreign investment in developed and developing countries can help make current economic practices more sustainable. Inappropriate investment, however, can undermine communities and the environment, as well as domestic development strategies. IISD examines how the rules and institutions that govern international investment flows can be improved so as to help developing countries, in particular, attract the sort of investment that promotes sustainable development.

Video


Mark Halle sees investment as critical to addressing sustainable development. (Flash Video - 1:47 min)

Team


Mark Halle· Mark Halle
Director - Trade and Investment, and European Representative
Aaron Cosbey· Aaron Cosbey
Associate and Senior Climate Change and Trade Advisor
Fiona Marshall· Fiona Marshall
Associate
Flavia Thomé· Flavia Thomé
Programme Administrator
Howard Mann· Howard Mann
Associate & Senior International Law Advisor
Mahnaz Malik· Mahnaz Malik
Associate
Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder· Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder
Program Leader

Foreign Investment for SD

A global agenda for change in international investment law, policy and institutions

What's New in Foreign Investment for SD?

  • Background paper on Vattenfall v. Germany arbitration (PDF - 491 kb)
    This paper provides background on an investment dispute between the Swedish energy utility Vattenfall and the Government of Germany pursuant to the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). Vattenfall is seeking approximately 1.4 billion Euros in compensation from the Government of Germany, claiming that environmental restrictions placed on a coal-fired power plant would make the project uneconomical. In addition to providing background on the dispute, the paper describes the arbitration process under the ECT, a multilateral agreement governing foreign investments in the energy sector. The paper also discusses the ECT's implications for environmental law and policy making.

  • A Thirst for Distant Lands: Foreign investment in agricultural land and water (PDF - 442 kb)
    This paper provides a synopsis of current trends in the expansion of foreign investment in agriculture. Drawing on current literature, media reports and a series of interviews, the paper looks at the causes, the mechanisms and the growth, in particular, of long-distance farming for home country consumption. The paper considers both the land and water issues that are involved. It focuses in particular on the linkage between domestic law, international investment contracts and international investment treaties. Each of these three sources of law can have positive and negative implications for community and individual rights to land, water and food.

IISD has been breaking new ground on investment and sustainable development issues since 1998.

Investment is critical for sustainable development, which requires fundamental changes in how we produce, distribute and dispose of goods. Today this kind of change must come mainly through investment in new technologies and new processes that can replace unsustainable practices. In developing countries, where domestic sources of capital are scarce, foreign direct investment plays a significant role.

But not all investment leads to sustainable development, and not all of the global rules and institutions relating to international investment have been conceived through a sustainable development lens. IISD's work on investment and sustainable development focuses on this critical linkage, and provides new approaches to ensure that investment law and policy will make a positive contribution to sustainable development.

Contents