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We are now accepting papers for the 2019 Yearbook on International Investment Law and Policy!
The Yearbook monitors current developments in international investment law and policy, focusing (in Part One) on trends in foreign direct investment (FDI), international investment agreements, and investment disputes. Part Two, then, looks at central issues in the contemporary discussions on international investment law and policy. The book is available for purchase here. Please use the code ALFLY5F at checkout to receive a 20% discount.
Original contributions are accepted on a rolling basis until February 2, 2020; please find submission details on our website.
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Sept 10-11, 2020: Conference on Sustainable Finance and Investment - Accepting Papers!
CCSI is excited to host the 3rd Annual Conference of the Global Research Alliance on Sustainable Finance and Investment (GRASFI) on September 10-11, 2020. Submit your papers by February 28, 2020, on themes including climate-related risks and finance, the role of the state (e.g., central banks, development banks, and regulators) in advancing sustainable finance, and social and human rights dimensions of sustainable finance, among others. A full list of themes, further information about the conference and submission details can be found on our website.
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Enroll now for the self-paced Massive Open Online Course on Natural Resources for Sustainable Development
The free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Natural Resources for Sustainable Development: The Fundamentals of Oil, Gas and Mining Governance will be available on-demand starting February 3rd! This joint course was developed by CCSI, the Natural Resource Governance Institute, the World Bank, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and has enrolled thousands of participants from all over the world. Click here to enroll now, and watch the trailer here.
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Do Companies Have Personalities (and Does It Matter?)
CCSI launched an interview series on “company personalities” looking in particular at how a company’s personality determines its negotiation strategy, the contractual provisions it pushes for, and the overall relationship between the company and its host governments. Alongside the interviews, CCSI has created a hypothetical walk-through of the learning process involved in preparing for company negotiations. In the story, a minister grapples with the question of company personalities. Check that out here.
Complementary to understanding a company’s personality, due diligence into a company’s recent record of actions and violations is crucially important to be well prepared for negotiations and long term engagement. See our guide co-authored with Kroll here.
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Environmental Injustice: How Treaties Undermine Human Rights Related to the Environment
Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) claims and awards are quietly undermining environmental conservation, governance, rights, and justice. This paper, published in the newest issue of the Sciences Po Law Review, devoted to the environmental crisis, highlights several areas of environmental protection and environmental justice that have been impacted by ISDS cases, including, in particular, measures related to climate action, protection of water resources, environmental impact assessments, and communities’ rights to representation and access to justice.
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Updated Petroleum Local Content Legal Framework Profile for Kazakhstan
We have updated the Petroleum Local Content Legal Framework Profile for Kazakhstan! Access the new profile here and find all our local content profiles here.
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Advancing Sustainable Development by Facilitating Sustainable FDI, Promoting CSR, Designating Recognized Sustainable Investors, and Giving Home Countries a Role
Foreign direct investment (“FDI”) can be an important vehicle for development. However, in recent years, the focus has not just been on development generally, but sustainable development specifically. This paper, by Karl P. Sauvant, Resident Senior Fellow, Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, and Evan Gabor, J.D. candidate, Columbia Law School, focuses on how countries can increase levels of FDI geared toward projects likely to contribute as much as possible to their sustainable development—in other words, how countries can increase flows of sustainable FDI.
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Report to the Structured Discussions on Investment Facilitation
Experts from governments, investment promotion agencies, the private sector, academia, NGOs, and intergovernmental organizations discussed key measures that governments can take to facilitate investment flows and, especially, investment flows that contribute as much as possible to the sustainable development of the developing and least developed economies. Moreover, the workshop addressed issues related to the negotiation and eventual implementation of an Investment Facilitation Framework for Development. The principal results of the December 12, 2019 workshop were reported to the WTO’s Structured Discussions on Investment Facilitation by CCSI Resident Senior Fellow Karl P. Sauvant.
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IIAs and Investor (Mis)Conduct
Lise Johnson explores the relationship between investor responsibilities and international investment law, including the signals investment law is currently sending investors regarding appropriate standards of conduct.
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Access to Justice and Corporate Accountability for Investment-Related Harms
Jesse Coleman lays out the opportunities and limitations of three investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) reform scenarios and their respective impacts on access to justice for investment-affected rights holders and corporate accountability for investment-related harms.
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February 2-6, 2020: Perrine Toledano at Mining Indaba, Cape Town
CCSI’s Head of Extractive Industries, Perrine Toledano, will be at Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa this February to present CCSI's work on the Renewable Power of the Mine, the Coalition of Material Emission Transparency and more.
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February 24, 2020: The Global Rush to Foreign Direct Investment Screenings
CCSI and the European Institute at Columbia University are co-sponsoring a Weatherhead East Asian Institute Lectures and Panels event with Giulio Napolitano, Professor, Roma Tre University, moderated by Karl P. Sauvant, Columbia University Law School. By looking at the situation in the EU, the US, and China, this Roundtable will answer the question of how it is possible to reconcile the objective of attracting foreign investments and thus promoting economic development with the need to protect national security and strategic interests.
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January 24, 2020: COMET, the Coalition on Materials Emissions Transparency, launched at Davos
To fully understand how to plan for the decarbonization of mining operations, we need better data. However, neither consumers, corporates, nor financial institutions know the embodied emissions in the products they produce or sell. While methods like life-cycle analysis and environmental product declarations exist, none use a verifiable, comparable, or widely adopted emissions reporting framework capable of sending supply chain signals.
The solution to truly reform material supply chains, new solutions for markets, capital, and policy are required. COMET (the Coalition on Materials Emissions Transparency), an alliance launched at Davos by RockyMountain Institute, MIT’s Sustainable Supply Chains initiative, the Colorado School of Mines, and CCSI is working with financiers, producers, and buyers to create a standard greenhouse gas (GHG) calculation framework for mineral and industrial supply chains.
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January 18-19, 2020: Workshop for Negotiators in UNCITRAL’s Work on ISDS Reform
On January 18-19, in advance of UNCITRAL Working Group III’s most recent week of negotiations on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) reform, CCSI organized a workshop for government delegates. The workshop, which is sponsored by the German Cooperation, is the fourth such workshop CCSI has organized in advance of the negotiations. An agenda as well as powerpoints and speaking notes will be posted on our website shortly.
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December 11, 2019: Opportunities and Challenges of Establishing an International Framework on Investment Facilitation for Development in the WTO
CCSI Resident Senior Fellow Karl P. Sauvant chaired two sessions at the Expert Workshop on “Opportunities and Challenges of Establishing an International Framework on Investment Facilitation for Development in the WTO,” organized by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the German Development Institute, the International Trade Centre, and the World Economic Forum in Geneva, and presented a discussion paper on “Advancing Sustainable Development by Facilitating Sustainable FDI, Promoting CSR, Designating Recognized Sustainable Investors, and Giving Home Countries a Role,” co-authored with Columbia Law School JD candidate Evan Gabor.
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December 5, 2019: Advancing Anti-Corruption in Extractive Industries through a Political Economy Lens
Together with Global Integrity, CCSI hosted a meeting in Washington D.C. last month to bring together extractives governance, anti-corruption, and political economy experts to explore how different approaches to applied political economy analysis can support progress toward more effectively tackling corruption in the extractives sector. This meeting was organized as part of the Executive Session on the Politics of Extractive Industries.
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Trainings
Applications Due February 14 for June 2020 Executive Training on Sustainable Investments in Agriculture
We are accepting applications here for CCSI’s 2020 Executive Training on Sustainable Investments in Agriculture until February 14, 2020. The interdisciplinary training program provides an overview of pressing issues related to agricultural investments, as well as an introduction to relevant practical skills. For more information about the course, and to access the application, please visit our website.
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Applications Open! June 2020: Executive Training on Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development
CCSI is pleased to announce that we are still accepting applications for the 2020 Executive Training on Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development. This comprehensive course is designed to equip participants with the necessary skills to promote the responsible development of the extractive industries sector in resource-rich developing countries, apply analytical tools and frameworks to the unique context of extractive industries in their country, and to facilitate knowledge-sharing among the different countries represented at the course. We are accepting applications until February 29, 2020.
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Applications Open! June 2020: Executive Training on Investment Treaties and Arbitration for Government Officials
CCSI is pleased to announce that we are still accepting applications for the 2020 Executive Training on Investment Treaties and Arbitration for Government Officials. Through an intensive course, government officials will increase their knowledge of crucial procedural and substantive aspects of investment law, better equipping them to deal with this complex and ever-evolving field with wide-ranging implications for myriad areas of law and policy, and direct consequences for host-state liability. We are accepting applications until March 15, 2020. All applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early.
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Alumni Profile: Bénéwindé Rouamba
As an alumnus of the Executive Training on Sustainable Investments in Agriculture, Bénéwindé speaks to CCSI about his career as Head of Project for the Land for Life at Welthungerhilfe and his takeaways from the last year's training. Read the profile here.
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