Policy and ‘Soft Law’ Rationales for Addressing Social and Environmental Concerns in Trade and Investment Treaties

2021 ◽  
pp. 98-108
Author(s):  
Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
International Policy ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Legitimate Expectation ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Investment Treaties ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Trade And Investment

This chapter addresses and discusses the international policy and soft law rationales that exist for states to include sustainable development concerns in their trade and investment treaties. First, it discusses reasons why the negative impacts of trade liberalization should not just be left to roll downhill onto the fragile ecosystems and vulnerable populations of developing states, using indications from the 1972 Conference on Human Environment (UNCHE), the 1992 Rio Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), the UN Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) deliberations, the 1997 General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS), the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and the 2012 Conference on Sustainable Development (UN CSD) to support this argument, and it specifically analyses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as they frame the new consensus. It then goes on to discuss how these soft laws, while not legally binding, constitute a legitimate expectation that States will promote sustainable development in their trade and investment treaties. It finds that there is a convincing international policy rationale for States to undertake measures to prevent, or at least mitigate, the environment and social development impacts of trade and investment agreements, addressing the main tensions identified in this volume.

scholarly journals Industry 4.0 and Sustainability Implications: A Scenario-Based Analysis of the Impacts and Challenges

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Bonilla ◽  
Helton Silva ◽  
Marcia Terra da Silva ◽  
Rodrigo Franco Gonçalves ◽  
José Sacomano
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Industry 4.0 ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Big Data Analytics ◽  
Industrial Process ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Negative Impacts

The new evolution of the production and industrial process called Industry 4.0, and its related technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data analytics, and cyber–physical systems, among others, still have an unknown potential impact on sustainability and the environment. In this paper, we conduct a literature-based analysis to discuss the sustainability impact and challenges of Industry 4.0 from four different scenarios: deployment, operation and technologies, integration and compliance with the sustainable development goals, and long-run scenarios. From these scenarios, our analysis resulted in positive or negative impacts related to the basic production inputs and outputs flows: raw material, energy and information consumption and product and waste disposal. As the main results, we identified both positive and negative expected impacts, with some predominance of positives that can be considered positive secondary effects derived from Industry 4.0 activities. However, only through integrating Industry 4.0 with the sustainable development goals in an eco-innovation platform, can it really ensure environmental performance. It is expected that this work can contribute to helping stakeholders, practitioners and governments to advance solutions to deal with the outcomes emerging through the massive adoption of those technologies, as well as supporting the expected positive impacts through policies and financial initiatives.

Trade and Investment Accords for Sustainable Development Goals 1–5

2021 ◽  
pp. 267-276
Author(s):  
Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Quality Education ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Investment Agreements ◽  
Trade And Investment

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set aspirational objectives for governments, international organizations and other stakeholders seeking to support sustainable development to achieve by 2030 or before, as well as indicators to facilitate measurement of attainment levels. Chapter 19 is the first of three chapters exploring provisions from over 110 innovative bilateral and regional economic treaties that could facilitate achievement of certain SDGs and their associated targets, to enable countries to maximize opportunities for their economic accords to assist in effectively contributing towards achievement of the SDG targets, particularly in a time of post-pandemic economic recovery. This chapter addresses trade and investment agreements provisions relevant to a first set of SDGs which target ‘basic needs’ challenges: eradicating poverty (SDG 1); ending hunger (SDG 2); promoting health and wellbeing (SDG 3); ensuring quality education (SDG 4) and achieving gender equality (SDG 5). The chapter canvasses the requirements of each goal and provides examples of treaty provisions that address each SDG.

A Future Agenda for Crafting ‘Athena’s Treaties’ on Trade and Investment for Sustainable Development

2021 ◽  
pp. 324-328
Author(s):  
Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger
Keyword(s):  
International Economic ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Single Measure ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Process Innovations ◽  
Economic Law ◽  
International Economic Law ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Trade And Investment

This final chapter briefly discusses the volume’s key findings, including that many trade and investment agreements contain provisions with potential to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It discusses the implications of the findings for international economic law more broadly, recognizing that no one single measure can provide ‘the solution’ to all trade- and investment-related sustainable development challenges and that many different provisions may be needed throughout the treaty, addressing potential impacts as they arise. It also highlights areas for further development, particularly in terms of ‘process’ innovations, such as sustainability impact assessments (SIAs). Further, the chapter canvasses areas of need for further legal research, which may be needed to monitor and propose improvements in State attempts to address regulatory elements in SIA and other processes. Finally, this chapter highlights the contribution of the volume to promoting sustainable development in trade and investment policy, serving as a useful tool for more sustainable international economic law and policy-making in the future.

China’s road towards sustainable development: Geography bridges science and solution

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 694-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongyan Liu ◽  
Shuying Leng ◽  
Canfei He ◽  
Jian Peng ◽  
Shilong Piao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Rapid Economic Growth ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Nations Development ◽  
Spatial Governance

Seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs) were put forward at the United Nations Development Summit in 2015 when releasing “Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. However, the international community still lacks understanding of how to make a bridge between scientific research and SDGs. China has experienced 40 years of rapid economic growth and social development, which have imposed considerable challenges on sustainable development. Although many disciplines have made contributions to promoting sustainable development in China, how to bridge SDGs and scientific research is still not fully clear. In this paper, we review the contribution of geographers to this issue to provide references for further international efforts towards meeting the SDGs. We consider three aspects in particular: the sensitive process capture of regional responses and feedbacks to global change; the cognition and geographical solution of human–environment conflicts; and the mutual promotion of spatial governance and geographical practices. The contribution of geography as a discipline to the sustainable development of China is an epitome of geographers’ efforts over the world. The practices experienced in China show that geography has played an irreplaceable role in promoting sustainable development, and can deal effectively with the challenges posed to the academic community by SDGs. As a discipline, geography has been deeply integrated into sustainable development. In the future, geography should become a key discipline in integrating many disciplines involved in sustainable development studies, and provide real-time decision support systems for sustainable development by combining big data and artificial intelligence.

scholarly journals The Anthropocentric Ontology of International Environmental Law and the Sustainable Development Goals: Towards an Ecocentric Rule of Law in the Anthropocene

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis J. Kotzé ◽  
Duncan French
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Development Goals

In this article we argue that the Anthropocene’s deepening socio-ecological crisis amplifies demands on, and exposes the deficiencies of, our ailing regulatory institutions, including that of international environmental law (iel). Many of the perceived failures of iel have been attributed to the anthropocentric, as opposed to the ecocentric, ontology of this body of law. As a result of its anthropocentric orientation and the resultant deficiencies, iel is unable to halt the type of human behaviour that is causing the Anthropocene, while it exacerbates environmental destruction, gender and class inequalities, growing inter- and intra-species hierarchies, human rights abuses, and socio-economic and ecological injustices. These are the same types of concerns that the recently proclaimed Sustainable Development Goals (sdgs) set out to address. The sdgs are, however, themselves anthropocentric; an unfortunate situation which reinforces the anthropocentrism of iel and vice versa. Considering the anthropocentric genesis of iel and the broader sdgs framework, this article sets out to argue that the anthropocentrism inherent in the ontological orientation of iel and the sdgs risks exacerbating Anthropocene-like events, and a more ecocentric orientation for both is urgently required to enable a more ecocentric rule of law to better mediate the human-environment interface in the Anthropocene. Our point of departure is that respect for ecological limits is the only way in which humankind, acting as principal global agents of care, will be able to ensure a sustainable future for human and non-human constituents of the Earth community. Correspondingly, the rule of law must also come to reflect such imperatives.

scholarly journals AI in Context and the Sustainable Development Goals: Factoring in the Unsustainability of the Sociotechnical System

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1738
Author(s):  
Henrik Skaug Sætra
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Large Data Sets ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Sociotechnical System ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Negative Impacts

Artificial intelligence (AI) is associated with both positive and negative impacts on both people and planet, and much attention is currently devoted to analyzing and evaluating these impacts. In 2015, the UN set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), consisting of environmental, social, and economic goals. This article shows how the SDGs provide a novel and useful framework for analyzing and categorizing the benefits and harms of AI. AI is here considered in context as part of a sociotechnical system consisting of larger structures and economic and political systems, rather than as a simple tool that can be analyzed in isolation. This article distinguishes between direct and indirect effects of AI and divides the SDGs into five groups based on the kinds of impact AI has on them. While AI has great positive potential, it is also intimately linked to nonuniversal access to increasingly large data sets and the computing infrastructure required to make use of them. As a handful of nations and companies control the development and application of AI, this raises important questions regarding the potential negative implications of AI on the SDGs. The conceptual framework here presented helps structure the analysis of which of the SDGs AI might be useful in attaining and which goals are threatened by the increased use of AI.

scholarly journals Reviewing the Role of Outdoor Lighting in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12657
Author(s):  
Pedro Tavares ◽  
Dmitrii Ingi ◽  
Luiz Araújo ◽  
Paulo Pinho ◽  
Pramod Bhusal
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Health ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Negative Impacts

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim at providing a healthier planet for present and future generations. At the most recent SDG summit held in 2019, Member States recognized that the achievements accomplished to date have been insufficient to achieve this mission. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review of 227 documents contextualizing outdoor lighting with SDGs, showing its potential to resolve some existing issues related to the SDG targets. From a list of 17 goals, six SDGs were identified to have relevant synergies with outdoor lighting in smart cities, including SDG 3 (Good health and well-being), SDG 11 (Sustainable cities and communities), SDG 14 (Life below water) and SDG 15 (Life on land). This review also links efficient lighting roles partially with SDG 7 (Affordable and clean energy) and SDG 13 (Climate action) through Target 7.3 and Target 13.2, respectively. This paper identifies outdoor lighting as a vector directly impacting 16 of the 50 targets in the six SDGs involved. Each section in this review discusses the main aspects of outdoor lighting by a human-centric, energy efficiency and environmental impacts. Each aspect addresses the most recent studies contributing to lighting solutions in the literature, helping us to understand the positive and negative impacts of artificial lighting on living beings. In addition, the work summarizes the proposed solutions and results tackling specific topics impacting SDG demands.

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