| As environmental issues become prominent, currently it is a consensus to stipulate environmental clauses in the international investment agreements for the purpose of balancing the contradiction between investment liberalization and environmental protection. It is of great significance for the introduction and management of foreign investment in China to include Environmental protection clauses which emphasize the importance of environmental protection and recognize the rights for China to adopt reasonable environmental measures in China’s investment agreements. Not only that, when China’s overseas investors encounter environmental risk, environmental clauses on environmental measures influence on China’s overseas investor interests. Therefore, when China intents to sign the international investment agreements, the formulation of environmental clauses should be paid attention to.Environmental clauses in China’s international investment agreements are limited in quantity,and the legislative mode is not systematical and so on. There are still many shortcomings in the form, content and wording, which need to be improved urgently. In the international practice, it has been put into practice to bring environmental protection into the international investment agreement, in order to achieve the balance between environmental protection and investment liberalization. In the international practice, the form of environmental protection clauses began to develop systematically. The contents develop specifically. China should draw lessons from the experience of international practice to improve environmental clauses in China’s international investment agreements.The first chapter of this paper introduces the background and significance of the environmental protection provisions in China’s international investment agreements, and leads to the analysis of the current environmental provisions of China’s international investment agreements. Firstly the background is elaborated from the investment and treaty practice. Secondly, the significance of the environmental protection provisions in China’s international investment agreement is revealed, explaining the importance of environmental protection provisions. This chapter is the basis for the study of environmental protection provisions in China’s international investment agreements.The second chapter firstly analyzes the status quo of environmental protection clauses in China International Investment Agreements and puts forward the shortcomings. The first part introduces the Provisions on the Protection of the Environment in China’s bilateral investment agreements and regional investment agreements. And the second part summarizes its characteristics, and the third part puts forward the defects of environmental protection clauses in form and content.The third chapter is about the international practice of environmental protection clauses in international investment agreements. This chapter firstly selects United States and Canada’s bilateral investment treaties, the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA), the Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP) Agreement, the Energy Charter Treaty(ECT) and Multilateral Agreement on Investment(MAI)(Draft) as representative texts, and then summarizes its characteristics and analyzes the trend of development.The fourth chapter intents to give some suggestions to improve provisions on the protection of environment in China’s international investment agreements. The suggestions about improvement start from the form and content of the terms, combined with the analysis in the second chapter and the experience of the international practice. |
