Multilateral Development Banks (hereinafter MDBs) have evolved from avoiding non-economic considerations, as required in most of their charters, to officially supporting sustainable development. This transformation is due not only to international law, civil society pressure or internal adjustments, but in part to the emulation phenomenon between the international effort for sustainable development made by international conferences and commissions and the sustainable development effort by MDBs. The paper first examines this emulation phenomenon and its strong impact on MDB creation of substantive instruments – the environmental and social safeguards – and of procedural instruments – the accountability mechanisms – for the integration of sustainable development. Following this discussion, the second part points out that MDBs’ environmental and social safeguards still differ substantially, revealing a fragmentation in MDBs’ normative understanding of sustainable development. After presenting the arguments supporting this fragmentation, the last part of the paper argues in favor of the harmonization of MDBs’ environmental and social safeguards, resulting in the creation of a common law of sustainable development, the promotion of international law and the facilitation of investments.

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The Pan-African Investment Code (PAIC) is the first continent-wide African model investment treaty elaborated under the auspices of the African Union. The PAIC has been drafted from the perspective of developing and least-developed countries with a view to promote sustainable development. The PAIC contains a number of Africa-specific and innovative features, which presumably makes it today a unique legal instrument. Written in a time where the international investment community is still debating the future of international investment law, this article seeks to present and contextualize this first African model investment treaty. The article highlights the most innovative features of the PAIC, such as the reformulation of traditional investment treaty provisions and the introduction of direct obligations for investors.

The South China Sea Arbitration is a leading case in a new generation of environmental disputes, namely, environmental disputes that occur in disputed territorial or maritime areas. The dispute between the Philippines and China before the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Annex VII Tribunal (the Tribunal) dealt in significant part with the Philippines’ allegations of environmental violations by China. The Philippines asserted that China tolerated harmful fishing practices and proceeded with harmful construction activities, and that both caused serious harm to the marine environment of the South China Sea.