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Earlier this year, a speech by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum went viral and earned praise from many quarters. Carney spoke of a “rupture” in the rules-based international order and argued that middle powers—like Canada and Australia—could build a new order that encompasses values such as respect for human rights and sustainable development. However, some commentators have pointed out that the free trade agreements that Carney is currently pushing with countries like Ecuador and Indonesia fail to live up to such values. One key reason is that these agreements provide sweeping protections for foreign investors and access to a process known as investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). Large corporations have used ISDS to challenge legitimate public policy measures, including measures to protect the environment and public health, in countries around the world. While most cases are brought against governments in the global South, Canada has also been on the receiving end of claims from American investors, and most recently Hancock Prospecting owned by Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart. Australia has also been sued in ISDS, first by Philip Morris over a tobacco plain packaging law and now by Clive Palmer’s mining firm over various projects, including a coal mine rejected on climate grounds. Unlike Canada, Australia’s response (at least under Labor governments), has been to take a principled position against ISDS. The Albanese government is both resisting the inclusion of ISDS clauses in new agreements and working to try to remove them in existing ones. This presentation will argue that while Australia’s approach is laudable, the government could do more to lead on this issue at the global level. In particular, given the increasing use of ISDS by the fossil fuel industry, Australia could leverage its position as the co-host of COP31 to build a coalition of countries opposed to ISDS. This coalition could help to bring about radical reform of the investment treaty regime, a key step in developing a new values-based global order.

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is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Economy and Environment in the School of Environmental Studies and Department of Global Development at Queen’s University, Kingston. She is an internationally recognized expert on the environmental and climate policy impacts of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), a process that allows corporations to challenge government policies that undermine the profitability of investment projects. Prior to her appointment at Queen’s, she was Head of Research at Greenpeace Australia Pacific and a Research Fellow at RegNet, where she held a Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA). 

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