22 July 2010: The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published its World Investment Report 2010, with a focus on “Investing in a Low Carbon Economy.”

The report examines foreign direct investment trends, and proposes a global partnership to synergize investment promotion and climate change mitigation and to galvanize low-carbon investment for sustainable growth and development. The five major components of the proposed partnership are: establishing clean-investment promotion strategies; enabling the dissemination of clean technology; securing international investment agreements’ contribution to climate change mitigation; harmonizing corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions disclosure; and setting up an international low-carbon technical assistance center (L-TAC).

Regarding climate change negotiations, the report also notes the current national and international policy frameworks are in flux and do not target private sector and transnational corporation contributions sufficiently and effectively. It stresses that integrating international investment policies into the climate change framework is essential when designing the new post-2012 regime. [The Report]