Environmental Rights, Sustainable Development, and Investor-State Case Law: A Critical Appraisal

We are witnessing a constant increase in international disputes where claims and considerations relating to environmental rights, sustainable development (SD), and foreign investment protections are inextricably intertwined. The Pulp Mills case before the ICJ provides a quintessential example in that respect. At the same time, the impressive rise of investor-state arbitrations in recent years, and the realization that a good number of them have involved environmental, public health, and SD legal issues, warrant an appraisal of the relevant case law in order to determine how arbitrators have approached such issues and whether and to what extent they have taken environmental and SD principles and rules into consideration.