Climate change and investor-State disputes: protecting stranded assets or promoting green investments?

This chapter provides an analysis of climate-related investment disputes, a growing sub-field of climate litigation at the interface between climate change policy and international investment agreements. The chapter departs from an understanding that standards of protection and dispute settlement procedures set out in international investment agreements give rise to several areas of tension with national policies pursuing climate change mitigation goals. Taking stock of the different ways in which such frictions manifest themselves in investor-State disputes, this chapter provides a classification of climate-related investment disputes, also examining the extent to which climate action serves as a rationale for the challenged domestic measures, as well as the implications of the examined disputes from a climate perspective. Lastly, the chapter discusses how current efforts to reform multilateral and bilateral investment treaties may serve to address the issues examined in climate-related investment disputes and enhance alignment with climate goals.