By Romany Webb
September 22, 2016

In this blog post, Romany Webb explores how developing countries will need to decrease their use of fossil fuels if they are going to meet their Sustainable Development Goals. Over the last century, developed countries have relied heavily on fossil fuels to power their economies, however, in order to hold the increase in global temperature below 2 degrees C, there must be significant cuts in coal, oil, and gas.

By Kaitlin Cordes
September 21, 2016

In this blog post, Say Banerjee and Perrine Toledano illustrate CCSI’s policy recommendations to reduce ‘flaring gas’—oil that burns wastefully and is eventually disposed of during the production process. Eliminating APG (associated petroleum gas) flaring is a necessary step for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 13 on climate action and moving toward implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement.

By Shay Banerjee and Perrine Toledano
Septemebr 16, 2016

Every year, oil fields around the globe burn, or “flare,” an estimated 3.5 percent of the world’s natural gas supply. Such gas, known as “associated petroleum gas” (APG), is produced alongside oil and must be disposed of during the production process. This flaring, however, causes considerable damage to global atmospheric conditions and human health. Eliminating flaring would reduce CO2 emissions by as much as removing 77 million cars from the road. Moreover, flaring APG wastes a valuable non-renewable energy resource that could otherwise drive positive economic outcomes. If all APG currently subject to flaring were used for power generation, the world would enjoy an additional 750 billion kWh of electricity—more than the entire African continent’s current electricity consumption.

By Lise Johnson, Kaitlin Cordes and Jesse Coleman
August 22, 2016

Are a country’s obligations under international human rights law relevant in interpreting its potential liability under investment treaties? Does a company’s responsibility to respect human rights come into play when assessing which of its expectations should be protected in an investment dispute? When important public interest implications of investment treaty interpretations are at stake in the resolution of a company’s treaty-based claims against a government, can amicus curiae –“friend of the court” –briefs help fill in gaps in the parties’ own submissions?