Social and environmental issues in mining arbitration

Presentation

Mining disputes now sit at the intersection of investment protection, environmental regulation, and social legitimacy. Issues such as the social licence to operate, environmental permitting, community opposition, and ESG-driven regulation are no longer peripheral — they are central to how tribunals assess jurisdiction, treaty breaches, and damages. Yet these issues are often addressed inconsistently and without a structured analytical framework. This conference aims to fill that gap.

The proposed conference would provide a focused and timely forum to examine how social and environmental factors are treated across the different stages of arbitral analysis. It would be of direct interest to arbitrators, counsel, States, investors, experts, and academics dealing with mining and natural resources disputes.