Investment for Sustainable Development
Sustainable development is an investment issue. Capital is needed to alleviate poverty, create jobs, accelerate the clean energy transition and allow for the development of much-needed infrastructure to provide goods and services for all. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an important source of that capital.
But investment does not come without risks. How can we ensure investments are made responsibly, without harming people, the environment or the local economy?
IISD works with governments and civil society to develop and improve legal and policy tools focusing on the critical linkage between investment and sustainable development. We look for and provide new approaches to ensure that investment law and policy advance environmentally sound investment that generates broad socioeconomic benefits. In particular, IISD experts examine how the rules and institutions that govern international investment flows can be improved to benefit developing countries.
- Newsletter
Investment Treaty News Quarterly, Volume 7, Issue 1, February 2016
In this issue: Is investor-state dispute settlement legal under EU Law?
Read More - Report
Sustainability Impacts of Chinese Outward Direct Investment: A review of the literature
This literature review study has been developed in support of the project on Promoting Sustainable Development of Chinese Enterprises for “Going Out,” in order to accelerate the pace of “going out responsibly” as well as to cultivate a group of world-class responsible multinational corporations.
Read More - Commentary
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, Part I: A deal too far
The release of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement last fall has unleashed a heated debate over its costs and benefits.
Read More - Paper
Investment Treaty News Quarterly, Volume 6, Issue 4, November 2015
Does the Green Economy Need Investor–State Dispute Settlement? Read more in our quarterly periodical on investment law and policy.
Read More - Commentary
Comparative Commentary to Brazil’s Cooperation and Investment Facilitation Agreements (CIFAs) with Mozambique, Angola, Mexico, and Malawi
Unlike traditional bilateral investment treaties (BITs), which are geared toward investor protection, Brazil’s Cooperation and Investment Facilitation Agreements (CIFAs—or ACFIs in their Portuguese acronym) focus primarily on cooperation and investment facilitation.
Read More - Paper
Investment Treaty News Quarterly, Volume 6, Issue 3, August 2015
This issue explores the new Brazilian Agreement on Cooperation and Facilitation of Investments (ACFI); the legal regimes governing farmland investments and water rights in Africa; and new ideas to empower U.S. and European workers in TTIP.
Read More - Paper
Investment Contracts for Agriculture: Maximizing gains and minimizing risks
This joint IISD, World Bank and UNCTAD discussion paper marries two substantial bodies of research to show how investment contracts can be set up to promote sustainable development. It presents the top five positive outcomes and the five downsides from private sector investments in large-scale agricultural projects.
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Side-by-side Comparison of the Brazil-Mozambique and Brazil-Angola Cooperation and Investment Facilitation Agreements
Brazil has developed a new model investment agreement, the Cooperation and Investment Facilitation Agreement (CIFA). Unlike traditional bilateral investment treaties (BITs), which are geared towards investor protection, CIFAs focus less on investor protection and more on institutional arrangements and agendas for investment facilitation and cooperation.
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Investment Treaty News Quarterly, Volume 6, Issue 2, May 2015
In this issue:The Merits and Limitations of General Exception Clauses in Contemporary Investment Treaty Practice; Rethinking Investment-Related...
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Supporting Implementation of the Mining Policy Framework in Member States of the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development Uganda: Assessment of implementation readiness
The growing demand for non-renewable mineral resources is among the world’s greatest sustainability challenges.But for many countries it can also...
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