J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium
The 2025 J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium
Foreign Investment and the Environment: Local Communities, Human Rights, and Dispute Resolution
The George Washington University Law School
Thursday, March 20, 2025
Policies that promote the expansion of transnational capital often come at a significant cost to social equality, environmental health, and the well-being of local populations in host countries. The 2025 Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium will address these challenges by examining the intersection of environmental protection, human rights, and foreign investment within the context of arbitration between foreign investors and host states.
As calls for greater environmental awareness in investment arbitration continue to grow, this Symposium aims to highlight the critical issues shaping our global community. It will provide a vital platform for exploring the complex dynamics between the protection of foreign investment, sustainable development, the human right to a healthy environment, and access to environmental justice in an increasingly interconnected world.
Agenda
8 - 8:45 am: Continental Breakfast
Location: Kelly Lounge
8:45 - 9 am: Welcome Message
Location: Burns Moot Courtroom
- Randall S. Abate, Assistant Dean for Environmental Law Studies
9 - 10:15 am: Panel I: The Environment, Human Rights, and Cultural Heritage
Location: Burns Moot Courtroom
- Panel Details
Panel I examines norms related to international environmental law and international human rights law that have been implicated in disputes between host states and foreign investors within the framework of investment arbitration. The panel covers a range of critical topics, including standards related to socioeconomic and cultural rights, the free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) of indigenous peoples, corporate social responsibility, and the social license to operate. Additionally, discussions will address the right to a healthy environment and key principles of international environmental law. The panel highlights key areas where tensions arise between sovereign rights and private interests, exploring the challenges of reconciling these competing priorities in investment arbitration.
Moderator
- Amelia Burnette, Esq., Ph.D. candidate, University of Strathclyde
Panelists
- Dr. Maria Banda, Gibson Dunn, Associate Attorney
- Dr. Godwin Dzah, Assistant Professor, University of Alberta Faculty of Law
- Dr. Marcos Orellana, UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights
10:15 - 10:45 am: Coffee Break and Book Signing
Location: Kelly Lounge
- Giovanna Gismondi, Visiting Associate Professor of Law and Environmental Law Fellow
10:45 am - Noon: Panel II: The Crisis of Investment Arbitration: What's Next?
Location: Burns Moot Courtroom
- Panel Details
Panel II explores the challenges of protecting the environment within the current international investment law regime. It offers a comprehensive overview of International Investment Law, focusing on emerging trends that seek to integrate environmental values into arbitration between states and foreign investors. The panel will highlight key developments and challenges, while assessing potential pathways for harmonizing environmental protection with investment arbitration practices. It will also provide insights into how the evolving landscape might better accommodate environmental goals.
Moderator
- Ian A Laird, Esq., Co-Chair, International Dispute Resolution Group, Crowell & Moring LLP
Panelists
- Patrick Pearsall, Esq., Partner, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP
- Ladan Mehranvar, Senior Fellow. Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Noon - 12:30 pm: Buffet Lunch
Location: Faculty Conference Center (FCC)
12:30 - 12:45 pm: Introduction of Keynote Speaker
Location: Faculty Conference Center (FCC)
- Randall S. Abate, Assistant Dean for Environmental Law Studies
12:45 - 1:30 pm: Keynote Lecture
Location: Faculty Conference Center (FCC)
- S. James Anaya, University Distinguished Professor and Nicholas Doman Professor of International Law, University of Colorado Boulder Law School
1:30 - 2 pm: Presentation of Grodsky Prize
Location: Faculty Conference Center (FCC)
- Robert L. Glicksman, J. B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law
2 - 3:15 pm: Panel III: Dispute Resolution in Investment Arbitration with Human Rights and Environmental Dimensions: What Have We Learned from Recent Case Law?
Location: Faculty Conference Center (FCC)
- Panel Details
Panel III examines the complex relationship between environmental regulation and international investment arbitration, offering insights drawn from recent case law. It highlights the challenges faced by states in upholding environmental and human rights laws and policies within the investment arbitration framework, while also exploring the tension between these fields. The panel will analyze key cases that illustrate how courts have navigated these competing interests, shedding light on the evolving landscape of dispute resolution in investment arbitration and the lessons learned from these high-stakes legal battles.
Moderator
- Giovanna Gismondi, Visiting Associate Professor of Law and Environmental Law Fellow, GW Law School
Panelists
- Jose Antonio Rivas, Partner, Xtrategy LLP / Co-Founder Washington Arbitration Week; Co-Founder World Arbitration Update; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown Law Center
- Dawn Yamane Hewett, Partner, Quinn Emanuel (ABILA)
- David L. Attanasio, Partner, Womble Bond Dickinson, International Disputes Practice (ABILA)
3:15 - 3:45 pm: Coffee Break
3:45 - 5 pm: Panel IV: Community Consultations, Environmental Protection, and Investment Projects
Location: Faculty Conference Center (FCC)
- Panel Details
Panel IV explores the complexities of international projects involving multiple stakeholders, including local communities whose interests and priorities may conflict with those of multinational corporations. Through the analysis of case studies, this panel examines the environmental impacts on local communities, the status of consultation and access to environmental information under national laws, investors' obligations, non-judicial disputes related to human rights and environmental due diligence, civil liability, reputational risk, and other local issues that often create tensions among communities, investment projects, and local governments.
Moderator
- Awista Ayazi, Esq., Human Rights Litigator & Senior Legal Advisor
Panelists
- Andres Dulanto Tello, Dean, Faculty of Law, Universidad Cientifica del Sur (Peru)
- Cherine Foty, Esq., Senior Associate, Covington & Burling LLP
- Upasana Khatri, Esq., Senior Attorney, Center for International Environmental Law
5:30 - 7 pm: Reception
Location: Faculty Conference Center
- Sponsored by Crowell & Moring LLP
Resources
- Books
- SHAWKAT ALAM & ABDULLAH AL FARUQUE, FOREIGN INVESTMENT, HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: STRIKING A BALANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (Routledge Research in International Economic Law, 2025).
- ANDRÉS EDUARDO ALVARADO-GARZÓN, ENVIRONMENTAL COUNTERCLAIMS IN INVESTMENT ARBITRATION DECONSTRUCTING THE REQUIREMENTS OF JURISDICTION: Connection and Cause of Action (Springer, 2023).
- S. JAMES ANAYA, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN INTERNATIONAL LAW (2d. ed. 2004)
- GODWIN E. DZAH, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, INTERNATIONAL LAW, AND A TURN TO AFRICAN LEGAL COSMOLOGIES (Cambridge University Press, 2024).
- FAROUK EL-HOSSENY, CIVIL SOCIETY IN INVESTMENT TREATY ARBITRATION (Brill | Nijhoff, 2018).
- GIOVANNA E. GISMONDI, INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW IN INVESTMENT TREATY ARBITRATION: The Contribution of Host States' Argumentation in Reshaping International Investment Law (Wolters Kluwer, 2023).
- HURST HANNUM, S. JAMES ANAYA, DINAH SHELTON, AND ROSA CELORIO, INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS: PROBLEMS OF LAW, POLICY, AND PRACTICE (7th ed. 2023)
- ANJA IPP & ANNETTE MAGNUSSON, INVESTMENT ARBITRATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE (Kluwer Law International, 2023).
- RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON ENVIRONMENT AND INVESTMENT LAW (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019).
- BORZU SABAHI, IAN A. LAIRD & GIOVANNA E. GISMONDI, INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT LAW AND ARBITRATION: HISTORY, MODERN PRACTICE, AND FUTURE PROSPECTS (Brill ResearchPerspectives in International Investment Law and Arbitration, Brill | Nijhoff, 2018).
- ELSA SARDINHA, PROTECTING CULTURAL HERITAGE IN INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT LAW: TRACING THE EVOLUTION AND TREATMENT OF CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS IN RECENT FTAS AND INVESTOR-STATE JURISPRUDENCE (Springer, 2021).
- CHEN YU, DISPUTE SETTLEMENT AND THE REFORM OF INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT LAW: LEGALIZATION THROUGH ADJUDICATION (Elgar International Investment Law series, 2023).
- Articles and Book Chapters
- Crina Baltag, Riddhi Joshi & Kabir Duggal, Recent Trends in Investment Arbitration on the Right to Regulate, Environment, Health and Corporate Social Responsibility: Too Much or Too Little?, 38 ICSID REV. - FOREIGN INV. L.J. 381 (2023).
- Giovanna E Gismondi, The Renco Group Inc. v. Republic of Peru: An Assessment of the Investor’s Main Contentions in the Midst of Environmental Degradation, 59 HARV. INT'L L. J. 1 (2017).
- Gunn, Brenda L., International Investment Agreements and Indigenous Peoples' Rights, in INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE: BUILDING EQUITABLE AND INCLUSIVE INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS 123 (Borrows J. & Schwartz R., eds., Cambridge University Press, 2020).
- Henok, Gabisa, The Fate of International Human Rights Norms in the Realm of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs): Has Humanity Become a Collateral Damage?, THE INT’L LAWYER, VOL. 48, no. 2 (2014)
- Mohamed F. Sweify, Investment-Environment Disputes: Challenges and Proposals, 14 DEPAUL BUS. & COM. L.J. 133 (2016).
- Pete Heidepriem, Indigenous Rights, Investor-State Disputes, and Canadian Law, 68 S.D. L. REV. 1 (2023)
- Susan L. Karamanian, The Role of International Human Rights Law in Re-Shaping Investor-State Arbitration, 45 INT'L J. LEGAL INFO. 34 (2017)
- Tamara L. Slater, Investor-State Arbitration and Domestic Environmental Protection, 14 WASH. U. GLOBAL STUD. L. REV. 131 (2015)
- Valentina, Vadi, ed., Chapter 4: Cultural Heritage in International Investment Law and Arbitration, in CULTURAL HERITAGE IN INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW (Brill | Nijhoff, 2023)
- Yilmaz Bueno, A., Vastardis, & Djeuga Ngueuleu, Investor Human Rights and Environmental Obligations: The Need to Redesign Corporate Social Responsibility Clauses, 24 J. W. INVEST. & TRADE 213 (2023).