International investment protection concerns economic as well as environmental and social interests. The aim is to develop and explore approaches that promote sustainable investments while providing legal certainty for investors and states.The focus lies on combating climate change, respecting human rights and promoting sustainable economic development. 

The IILCC specialized in researching and closing the so-called Private Climate Investment Gap, an often overlooked challenge in sustainable investment protection. Currently, states do not have sufficient capital to effectively implement measures to combat and mitigate climate change. The IILCC is therefore exploring ways in which international investment law can be used to attract private capital to combat climate change. 

Publications 

• Climate Change, Human Rights, and Private Capital: The Obligation of States to Close the Climate Investment Gap, Austrian Review of International and European Law Online, 2024
• Chapter on Investment Protection in the Age of Climate Change, in: Evolution, Evaluation and Future Developments in International Investment Law – Proceedings of the 10 Year Anniversary Conference of the International Investment Law Centre Cologne, Nomos/Hart 2021, ISBN 978-3-8487-7755-6 

Events 

• Online-Workshop on the Protection of Investments in Renewable Energies under the Energy Charter Treaty, February 6, 2024
•  Conference on the Admissibility of Intra-EU Investor-State Arbitration Proceedings at ICSID based on the Energy Charter Treaty, May 10, 2023 

Lectures

• "Investment Arbitration in the Age of Climate Change: How New Realities Shape the Standard of Treatment", Conference on International Human Rights and International Economic Law: Interfaces, Challanges, Visions, November 25. and 26, 2022
• "Climate Change, Human Rights, and the Redirection of Global Capital Flows", Rhineland Lectures in International Law 2023, November 21, 2023