Investment Arbitration and Climate Change

This book represents a landmark contribution to an emerging field of critical importance. Its success in framing the legal, normative, and practical questions that dominate climate-investment interactions makes it an indispensable resource for practitioners, scholars, and policymakers.

While the book refrains from offering a singular vision for reform, it succeeds in its more fundamental objective: creating space for the dialogue, analysis, and innovation necessary to reconcile investment protection with climate justice. In doing so, it makes an essential contribution to both legal scholarship and the urgent practical work of climate governance in an interconnected world. —Professor A F M Maniruzzaman / TDM Vol. 22, Issue 3 September 2025

The book presents a timely response to climate change crises and the incoming related disputes with many arguments that merit deep reflection. Counsel for investors and defendant States, as well as organizations participating with amicus curiae interests in investment arbitration, are encouraged to engage with this book and its distinct perspectives. —Orlando Federico Cabrera Colorado, ICSID Review (2024) 

Investment Arbitration & Climate Change expertly bridges the gap between international investment law and the imperative to address climate change. By bringing together diverse perspectives, the editors and contributors illuminate the multifaceted challenges and opportunities at this critical intersection. The book highlights the polarized views within the legal community, presenting arguments from both proponents and critics of the current investment arbitration framework without achieving a consensus. This lack of consensus underscores the complexity and contentiousness of reconciling investment protection with climate action. While the book offers a robust analysis of current issues, it also acknowledges areas re quiring further exploration. Future research could delve deeper into the practical implementation of treaty reforms, the evolving role of climate science in arbitration, and the mechanisms for ensuring that investment protection does not undermine urgent climate goals. As the legal landscape continues to evolve, this volume serves as a foundational text, encouraging ongoing dialogue and innovative approaches to harmonize investment arbitration with the global climate transition. The book not only provides a comprehensive overview but also sets the stage for future developments in this vital area of law. —Alexandre Vagenheim Vice President Global Legal Data, Jus Mundi – Jus Mundi Arbitration Review Issue 1, 2024

This collection of eleven essays is the first book to be published on the problem of adapting the system of protection of foreign investment, particularly the key component of investor-State arbitration, to the entry into force of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Published under the editorship of the co-founders of Climate Change Counsel, it provides lawyers concerned with the workings of the system with an invaluable explanation of the problems that it faces. Appearing at a time when the system of investor-State dispute settlement is undergoing reform at the UN Commission on International Trade Law in response to widespread criticism alongside an initiative at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to develop reforms to adapt the system to the Paris Agreement, the book provides a wide-ranging survey of practical and policy issues written by a formidable group of experts.

While treaties are currently the most important basis of investment claims by volume and the OECD Track 1 programme is investigating their potential reform to align them to the Paris Agreement, the book rightly identifies the question of foreign investor claims based on State contracts as a significant question. As some voices in the investor-State arbitration community (eg, Alexis Mourre) publicly speculate on a shift from treaty-based investor-State dispute settlement to a greater reliance on State contracts, the standards of protection negotiated by host States with individual investors in such contracts is a pertinent issue discussed by Gessel-Kalinowska and others in Chapter 1, as well as by Wendy Miles KC in the context of international commercial arbitration in Chapter 3. In light of the ongoing withdrawals of counterparties from the Energy Charter Treaty (the latest being the United Kingdom) as discussed by PW Pearsall and others in Chapter 10, there is an open question to what extent future foreign investments in the energy sector will be regulated by other investment treaties or the State contract itself. —Arman Sarvarian - British Yearbook of International Law April 2024