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natural resources


EU recovers appetite for trade in green industry push
The European Union is aiming to enact up to five trade deals in record time to ensure its future as a clean tech leader, by securing supplies of key raw materials, increasing markets for green exports and reducing its reliance on China.
EU, Kazakhstan ink agreement on raw materials and renewable hydrogen at COP27
The European Union and Kazakhstan seek to strengthen their strategic partnership by signing an agreement on raw materials, batteries and renewable hydrogen.
EU to introduce targets for raw materials self-sufficiency
Existing EU free-trade deals with Canada, Japan and Vietnam contain provisions about raw materials. And there are ongoing talks about including a raw materials chapter in trade agreements with Chile and Australia.
The conflict between traditional miners in Marmato and Canadian transnational mining companies: Another ISDS dispute over natural resources in Colombia
In Marmato, the foreign investment promotion and protection system facilitated the transformation of the traditional small-scale mining regime into a transnational large-scale mining regime.
Chinese companies exploit Indonesia’s natural resources under BRI Initiative
The operations of Chinese companies under the Belt and Road Initiative in Indonesia have become a hazard for the country’s environment, disturbing its ecological equilibrium resulting into population displacement.
Rethinking investment law from the ground up: extractivism, human rights, and investment treaties
For many people affected by resource extraction, it is the prevailing legal regime that dis-embeds and disintegrates, because investment treaties can protect ventures that upend their lives with little scope for voice or redress.
US Consulate a turning point for disputed Western Sahara
Trump said the goal of the Western Sahara consulate would be “to promote economic and trade opportunities in the region.”
Sovereign rights to natural resources as a basis for denouncing international adjudication of investment disputes: A reflection on the Tanzanian approach
Tanzania’s reforms show that the claim that African states should regard ISDS mechanism as the preferred method for resolving investment disputes is not only very contested, but that there are legitimate grounds for those contestations.
Alternatives for the ‘Energy and Raw Materials Chapters’ in EU trade agreements
How trade agreements could strengthen human rights and environmental protection in the raw materials sector.
China’s raw materials strategy
The BRI builds China’s commercial ties abroad by financing, constructing, and developing major transport, energy, technology, and other infrastructure projects in the Indo-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas.
Breaking new ground: The EU’s push for raw materials sovereignty
When it comes to critical raw materials, the Commission is exploring fair trade agreements with Africa, Australia and Chile while the Canada-Europe trade deal could be a boon for sourcing nickel and rare earths.
Belt and road initiative: Ominously, Chinese investment in South Asia target control of natural resources
Economic corridors have hardly been as controversial as China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI). It could have avoided controversies if it had proceeded in a consultative fashion like multi-country cross-border corridors.
Government regulatory space in the shadow of BITs: The case of Tanzania’s natural resource regulatory reform
Tanzania passed three new laws that significantly change the regulatory landscape governing natural resources and the mining sector in particular.
Community perspectives in investor-state arbitration
This report examines whether and how investor-state arbitral tribunals consider community perspectives, interests and rights in their settlement of investment disputes.
Nigeria: Trade negotiation office to advise govt on how to resolve EPA challenge
"We have looked at the agreement and we believe that the agreements are situated in the 19th century and we are now in the 21st century," Nigerian govt claims
Gold jewelry maker asks government for FTA with UAE
Major gold jewelry producer has asked the government to establish a free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates to lower the country’s import tax for Indonesian jewelry.
Venezuela ordered to pay steelmaker Tenaris $162 million for takeover
A World Bank tribunal ordered Venezuela to pay steelmaker Tenaris SA $162 million for expropriating two investments in the country
EU-Mexico FTA - EU text proposals (November 2016)
As published by the European Commission
The men behind ISDS
The so-called “ISDS” has been existing for years already. A revealing look in the hidden world of investor-state dispute settlement.
Eco-groups join in $ 101M Bilcon quarry fight
The environmental lobby is going to bat for the federal and provincial governments against international big business in a $101-million argument.