By Nathan Lobel
September 19, 2018

The world has entered a critical moment for international investment governance. To seize upon this moment, the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment is hosting a two-day conference on Rethinking International Investment Governance: Principles for the 21st Century. The conference seeks to elaborate principles for a progressive investment agenda.

By Téodyl Nkuintchua, Sam Szoke-Burke, and Horline Njike
August 29, 2018

Cameroon’s new code on transparency and good governance promises to remove the shroud of secrecy that has hovered over contracts the government has signed with natural resource investors. It should also require the publication of investor-state contracts for agriculture and forestry projects. Everything appears to be lined up for Cameroon to advance on land contract transparency; here’s how the government can fulfill this promise.

August 2018. Rethinking International Investment Governance: Principles for the 21st Century — written over the course of a week by a distinguished group of experts in international economic governance using the Booksprint process  — aims to serve as a practical resource for those interested in the elements of an international investment system that promotes sustainable development and achieves legitimacy by providing… read more

Date: July 30-August 9, 2018
Location: Columbia Law School, Jerome Greene Hall, Case Lounge

Date: July 16-17, 2018
Location: São Paulo, Brazil

This policy brief argues that investment policies should be a core item on the agenda of the G20 and its Trade and Investment Working Group in particular. Specifically: The G20 should continue its important work on international investment policy reform and initiate steps to operationalize the Guiding Principles for Global Investment Policymaking. More specifically, the G20… read more

By Brooke Guven and Lise Johnson
May 24, 2018

While governments were traditionally viewed as playing a legitimate and indispensable role in leading the provision of public infrastructure and services, recent years have seen a distinct and increasing turn toward public private partnerships (PPPs) as a way of structuring public infrastructure investments.

This is a crucial moment in international investment policymaking. Two factors have converged, calling for a new direction. First, it has become increasingly difficult to justify investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS); even governments that had been among its strongest proponents are now changing course and have raised a range of fundamental, systemic and inter-related issues relating… read more

Date: April 23, 2018, 6:00pm-9:00pm
Location: Regency Room, Grand Hyatt, 109 E 42nd St, New York, NY 10017

This paper analyzes the expected benefits of investment treaties, including: increased inward investment, increased outward investment, and depoliticization of investment disputes. It then considers evidence of the costs of investment treaties, including: litigation, liability, reputational cost, reduced policy space, distorted power dynamics, reduced role for domestic law-making, and uncertainty in the law. The authors set… read more