Stability vs. Flexibility: Reconciling climate change related measures with international investment protection standards towards sustainable development - case of Tajikistan

Tajikistan government has started taking a strong leadership towards sustainable development and combating climate change, as it will be very strongly affected by the impacts of climatic changes in the next one hundred years. It has pledged before the UNFCCC to take ambitious steps in adaptation and mitigation measures. In meantime, some foreign investors have started shifting their investments from ‘brown’ to ‘green’ due to both strong impacts of climate change, as well as business opportunities, and have been considering to invest in major economic projects in Tajikistan. Nevertheless, Tajikistan obligation under the UNFCCC may result in a normative conflict with its obligations deriving from its International Investment Agreements, and create a threat of government’s liability for measures undertaken to address climate change under the Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanism. Majority of Tajikistan international investment legislation actually lacks norms on environmental protection. This research attempts to fill this gap by discussing the possible ways of reconciling international environmental norms law with international investment protection standards in case of Tajikistan.