Investment contracts and sustainable development : how to make contracts for fairer and more sustainable natural resource investments

This guide discusses options to structure investment contractsin ways that maximise the investment's contribution to sustainable development. The focus is on foreign investment in the natural resource sector and on lower- and middle-income countries. The guide draws on test trainings in Ghana and Central Asia and aims to provide up-to-date and comprehensive learning material for both host governments and civil society. It can be used as a background document for training sessions, but it may also be used by readers accessing the material on their own. The guide tackles several interlinked topics, each representing a (set of) key lever(s) for sustainable development in investment contracts: choice among, and framing of, contract models to maximise sustainable development outcomes; tools to maximise the economic benefits to the host country; tools to balance economic with social and environmental considerations; stabilisation and renegotiation clauses; dispute settlement; and confidentiality provisions. The guide also provides an overview of relevant legal frameworks, highlighting how investment contracts can only be properly understood if read in conjunction with a wider range of applicable legal instruments, and briefly discusses the contracting process -- namely the negotiation and management of investment contract. Finally, the guide provides background material for a role-play to apply the concepts discussed in the more theoretical sections.