Editors' Note

• Author: Paulo A. Lopes - Melissa Blue Sky
• Position: Editors-In-Chief
• Pages: 1-1

feasibility of border tax adjustme nts designed to reduc e global

greenh ouse gas emissi ons and how t hey migh t conf‌l ict with

existing WTO multilat eral rules.

With the W TO’s Doha D evelopment Round stalled and

the wor ld’s econ omies strug gling to resume gr owth, we must

rememb er t hat although inter national trade and investm ent

is a n integral part of the global ec onomy, it is a mere subset

within the overarchin g goal o f sustainable development. T his

issue of Sustainable Developmen t Law & Policy seeks to con-

tribu te t o t he understand ing of important deve lopments in

internation al trade and investment and encourage further inte-

gration of su stainable development principles into existing and

future frameworks. For on ly with the p roper balance and rec-

ognition of both the environm ent and development, an d their

connection with tr ade and investment, can sustainable develop-

ment be reali zed.

Paulo A. Lopes Melissa Blue Sky

Editor-In-Chief Editor-In-Chief

1SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT LAW & POLICY

Over the past f‌i fty years, internatio nal trade and invest-

ment has grown consi derably and connected country

economies worldwide. So t oo have the l egal frame-

works created to coordinate such activity: from the cr eation of

the f‌i rst bilateral investment tr eaty in 19591 to the more than

2,700 in existen ce today,2 the establish ment of the World Trade

Organizat ion (“WTO”) in 1995, and over 20 0 regional trade

agreement s currently in force.3 While much attentio n focused

on in ternational trade and investment star ting in 2008, as the

U.S. f‌i nancial cris is led to a global trade coll apse, impacts of

inter national trade and investment outs ide o f the econo mic

realm, in particu lar on sustainable development, are growing in

recognition. Countries are beginning to in tegrate environmen-

tal standards into fre e trade and inte rnational investment agree-

ments, the WTO and United Nations Enviro nment Programme

collaborated on a tr ade and clima te change repo rt,4 the World

Bank Group’s Intern ational Fi nance Cor poration released its

revised Sustainabi lity Framework for p rivate secto r develop-

ment projects in May 2011, and after the 2007-2008 surge in

food prices and resulting private p urchases of land in develop-

ing countries , concerns of “land g rabbing” have been raised.

Articles in this issue on Trade, Investment, and Sustaina ble

Development review some of the def‌i ciencies and imbalances

of existing trad e an d inves tment agreement s whi le pr opos-

ing solutions to he lp counte r and mitigate these issues. One

author foc uses on the issue s concerning the health, safety, and

environmen tal measu res and whether the non -discriminatio n

standards in investment tr eaties require consideration of these

measures. Another author reviews the issues pertain ing to the

U.S. trade policy and how it can be used to advance global food

security goals as opposed to hinderin g them. N ext, an a rticle

analyze s the often highly secret ive and conf‌i denti al for eign

investment con tracts in the oil and gas sector, with a focus on

the environ mentally relevant cl auses in these contracts. Whil e

another article addresses measures being take n to st rengthen

environm ental and social sustaina bility in China’s overseas

investments and consider s whether Ch inese instituti ons could

learn from oth er in stitutions . Las tly, an article review s the

eDitorS’ note

FEATURES:

14 | the lurking coStS oF green technology

metalS in a global market

by Winf‌i eld J. Wilson

21 | global traDe: the impact oF maSSachuSettS’

energy policy on columbia’S mining inDuStry

by Cynthia Wildf‌i re

27 | Small winD turbineS may change the Future

oF energy in Developing countrieS

by Robert Foster

1 50th Anniversary of the First Bilateral Investment Treaty: An Occasion for

Celebration or Ref‌l ecti on?, int’l inSt. For SuStainable Dev., (Dec. 3, 20 09),

http://www.iisd.org/media/press.aspx?id=13.

2 uniteD nationS conFe rence on traDe & inv., worlD inveStment report

2010: inveSting in a low-carbon economy 81 (2010), http://www.unctad.org/

en/docs/wir2010_en.pdf.

3 Regional Trade Agreements, worlD traDe org., http://www.wto.org/eng-

lish/tratop_e/region_e/region_e.htm (last visited June 4, 2011).

4 uniteD nationS env’t programme & worlD traDe org., traDe anD cli-

mate change (2010 ), http:/ /www.wto.org/englis h/res_e/booksp_e/tr ade_cli-

mate_change_e.pdf.