ABSTRACT
Sustainable development and investment protection are often deemed to be conflicting goals of international investment agreements (IIAs). States are subject to various restrictions when negotiating IIAs that are compatible with sustainable development. IIAs are the primary source of norms for the regime of global investment governance. Overall, the sustainable development provisions in IIAs fail to adequately reflect the concept of sustainable development in its full dimensions, especially the social dimension. The incorporation of sustainable development typically occurs in IETs. Most of the proposed 'balancing provisions' deal with allocation of the rights and obligations between the host states and foreign investors. Inter-IIA harmonization of sustainable development provisions requires that greater normative convergence of these provisions in different IIAs should be achieved. Intra-branch harmonization of international investment law and other branches of international law or general international law essentially requires reconciling the normative conflict between IIA norms and other international law norms, such as human rights treaty norms.
