Business and human rights research

International investment law is increasingly being used to challenge state climate change measures. However, it is also becoming clear that businesses have a human rights responsibility to account for their contribution to climate change. This begs the question - how might these responsibilities be relevant to such an arbitration claim? This research project for a German NGO looked into questions of business and human rights in the context of climate change and how investment tribunals should take this into account.

The objective of the study was to provide a comprehensive legal analysis of certain fundamental aspects of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. Together with colleagues Federica Violi, Ioannis Kampourakis and Alessandra Arcuri, I researched questions around cross-retaliation under the dispute resolution mechanism of the CAI.

How does investment arbitration impact communities affected by foreign investment projects? Local communities are often rendered invisible by investment arbitration and their voices are rarely heard. I conducted interviews in Rosia Montana to understand how the community has been impacted by the investment project, dispute and arbitration.