Foreign Investment and the Environment in International Law

Viñuales, Jorge E.

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511902567

Cited by 109 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 106 publications

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“…Similarly,Viñuales () also studied the rate of achieving transition to green economy and sustainable development. They established that considering the urgent need to meet the huge deficit in climate finance, the private sector is needed to partner with the public sector to bring transformative change to climate mitigation finance.…”

Section: Climate Financementioning

confidence: 99%

Financing climate change mitigation: An assessment of the private sector investment opportunities in Ghana

Ahenkan

2019

Bus Strat Dev

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The funding required for climate mitigation in Africa is estimated at 10 billion U.S. dollars annually. Unfortunately, the contributions by advanced countries will not be enough to meet the mitigation needs of developing countries. Emerging economies like Ghana have low financial capacity to effectively mitigate the harsh impacts of climate change. However, the proportion of private sector investment for climate change mitigation (CCM) keeps increasing—making it a major source of climate change finance. The paper examined the investment opportunities in CCM for private firms in Ghana. The study used qualitative research approach through in‐depth interviews with 25 private sector organisations, key development partners, and climate change experts and policy makers. The study found a number of opportunities for private sector investment in energy, agriculture, transport, waste, industry, and buildings in Ghana. The private sector has competencies, which can make a unique contribution to climate mitigation through investment in innovative technology and capacity building. The study revealed a number of barriers, which are hindering the private sector from investing in CCM in Ghana. The paper urged the government to create awareness of the investment opportunities and provide incentives to attract the private firms to scale up climate change financing and investment in Ghana.

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Section: Climate Financementioning

confidence: 99%

Financing climate change mitigation: An assessment of the private sector investment opportunities in Ghana

Ahenkan

2019

Bus Strat Dev

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“…For example, some environmental differentiation techniques (e.g. certain subsidies or feed-in tariffs), may be inconsistent with international economic law and can attract significant legal difficulties (Vinuales, 2012). Furthermore, the introduction of carbon pricing mechanisms (e.g.…”

Section: Policy Effectiveness Behaviour and Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling complex systems of heterogeneous agents to better design sustainability transitions policy

Mercure

Pollitt

Bassi³

et al. 2016

Global Environmental Change

156

112

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This article proposes a fundamental methodological shift in the modelling of policy interventions for sustainability transitions in order to account for complexity (e.g. self-reinforcing mechanisms, such as technology lock-ins, arising from multi-agent interactions) and agent heterogeneity (e.g. differences in consumer and investment behaviour arising from income stratification). We first characterise the uncertainty faced by climate policy-makers and its implications for investment decision-makers. We then identify five shortcomings in the equilibrium and optimisation-based approaches most frequently used to inform sustainability policy: (i) their normative, optimisation-based nature, (ii) their unrealistic reliance on the full-rationality of agents, (iii) their inability to account for mutual influences among agents (multi-agent interactions) and capture related self-reinforcing (positive feedback) processes, (iv) their inability to represent multiple solutions and path-dependency, and (v) their inability to properly account for agent heterogeneity. The aim of this article is to introduce an alternative modelling approach based on complexity dynamics and agent heterogeneity, and explore its use in four key areas of sustainability policy, namely (1) technology adoption and diffusion, (2) macroeconomic impacts of low-carbon policies, (3) interactions between the socio-economic system and the natural environment, and (4) the anticipation of policy outcomes. The practical relevance of the proposed methodology is subsequently discussed by reference to four specific applications relating to each of the above areas: the diffusion of transport technology, the impact of low-carbon investment on income and employment, the management of cascading uncertainties, and the cross-sectoral impact of biofuels policies. In conclusion, the article calls for a fundamental methodological shift aligning the modelling of the socio-economic system with that of the climatic system, for a combined and realistic understanding of the impact of sustainability policies.

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“…Amnesty International UK (2003UK ( , 2005. On the environmental dimensions, see Tienhaara (2006), Cotula (2008) and Viñuales (2012 to respect and protect human rights, any stabilisation commitments would need to be drafted (or interpreted, if drafting was not explicit) as only covering issues that the state can lawfully transact. Measures that states adopt to comply with their human rights obligations would lie outside the scope of any stabilisation clauses.…”

Section: Investor-state Contractsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconsidering Sovereignty, Ownership and Consent in Natural Resource Contracts: From Concepts to Practice

Cotula

2018

European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2018

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A wave of commercial investments in the natural resource sectors has rekindled debates about the place of contracts in the interface between economic governance and control over natural resources. Contracts between investors and states have provided the legal basis for many natural resource projects. They have also formed the object of renegotiations and disputes. Meanwhile, community-investor agreements have emerged as a strategy to promote local support for the business or advance local claims to natural resources. This chapter interrogates the fundamental parameters on which resource-related contracting rests. It first examines, based on positive law, the foundations of natural resource contracts, focusing on the notions of sovereignty, ownership and consent. This conceptual exploration highlights that, while consent underpins the contract, the legal construction of (state) sovereignty and (resource) ownership sets parameters for the expression of consent—namely, the actors whose consent is required, the processes through which consent is formed and manifested, and the bounds within which consent can lawfully operate. The chapter then distils some practical implications for natural resource contracts, focusing on illustrative issues relating both to the substantive and procedural dimensions of investor-state contracts, and to reframing the contracting process around a wider range of resource right holders and affected actors. The findings provide pointers for piecing together the diverse and possibly conflicting commercial and non-commercial interests that are at stake in natural resource contracts.

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Foreign Investment and the Environment in International Law

Cited by 109 publications

References 106 publications

Financing climate change mitigation: An assessment of the private sector investment opportunities in Ghana

Financing climate change mitigation: An assessment of the private sector investment opportunities in Ghana

Modelling complex systems of heterogeneous agents to better design sustainability transitions policy

Reconsidering Sovereignty, Ownership and Consent in Natural Resource Contracts: From Concepts to Practice

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