On Monday, 16 June 2025, Professor Tomoko Ishikawa from the University of Nagoya will deliver the opening address of the 2025 London Summer Arbitration School. The keynote will be devoted to arbitration of environmental disputes. Attending the event in the online format is free of charge for those who registers in advance. It will be moderated by Prof Yarik Kryvoi and Prof. Anna Petrig.
With growing concerns over the impact of investment arbitration on climate policies—leading to a wave of withdrawals from the Energy Charter Treaty—the debate surrounding the foreign investment-environment conflict has gained renewed attention. While many arbitral tribunals have sought to strike a balance between investment protection and environmental concerns, criticism persists that investment arbitration undermines a host state’s authority to regulate business activities for environmental protection. This perception continues to fuel the backlash against the investment treaty regime.
In response, investment treaties have increasingly recognised host states’ regulatory rights. Notably, most recent agreements explicitly refer to climate change. However, the extent to which and how these environment- and climate-friendly provisions may influence the interpretation and application of investment protection obligations remains uncertain.
Against this backdrop, this lecture examines the key legal and policy challenges at the intersection of investment arbitration and environmental protection. It explores the concept of ‘regulatory chill’, a phenomenon that states may refrain from enacting new environmental regulations due to concerns over potential investment disputes, and assesses whether this risk is exacerbated in the context of climate action. Furthermore, it analyses investment arbitration case law to evaluate how tribunals have balanced investment protection with environmental objectives and whether international environmental law has played a substantive role in shaping arbitral decisions. Finally, the lecture considers the potential implications of recent domestic and EU legal developments on corporate environmental and climate-related responsibilities for the future of investment arbitration.
Tomoko Ishikawa is Professor at Nagoya University in Japan. She has served as an ICSID Conciliator, appointed by the Chairman of the Administrative Council (2017–2023), a member of the Legal Advisory Committee of the Energy Charter Treaty, an arbitrator at Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration, and a mediator at the Kyoto International Mediation Centre.
Her professional experiences include serving as an Associate Judge at Tokyo District Court and holding the position of Deputy Director at the International Legal Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, where she worked on bilateral/trilateral investment treaties, Free Trade Agreements, and WTO dispute settlement.
Currently, Professor is leading a multidisciplinary research programme funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science entitled ‘Building Climate Change Governance through Multistakeholder Cooperation: The Case of Low-Carbon Hydrogen Projects’ (July 2023-March 2029).
Her recent publication includes Tomoko Ishikawa, Corporate Environmental Responsibility in Investor-State Dispute Settlement: The Unexhausted Potential of Current Mechanisms (Cambridge University Press, 2022) and Tomoko Ishikawa and Yarik Kryvoi (eds.), Public and Private Governance of Cybersecurity: Challenges and Potential (Cambridge University Press, 2023).
The keynote will take place on 16 June 2025 at 17:45 London time. Online attendance is free of charge to those who registers in advance following this link.
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