Is Arbitration Helping or Hindering the Protection of the Environment and Public Health?

On the occasion of the sixth edition of the Casablanca Arbitration Days, some leading arbitration practitioners from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and further afield convened to discuss an important and topical issue: ‘is arbitration helping or hindering the protection of the environment and public health?’. This conference examined the various areas where arbitration and the protection of the environment and public health interface. First, from a substantive view point, it is clear that environmental issues have become prevalent in commercial arbitration and that the latter has proven to be well suited to resolve such issues. Secondly, while some steps have already been taken in this respect, the climate change crisis requires the international arbitration community to change its ways and arbitrate in a much more environmentally friendly way. Thirdly, amidst the progressive emergence of environmental issues in investment arbitration and the responses that have already been provided by investment treaty arbitral tribunals, numerous uncertainties remain in respect of the way in which environmental issues should be treated. There is no doubt that environmental issues will give rise to intense debates before investment tribunals (and courts) and in legal literature in the near future. Finally, in addition to the protection of the environment, the arbitration community has already begun addressing (and, we would submit, successfully so) the substantive and procedural issues related to the protection of public health, in particular as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic. This article provides an account of what was said about these various topics during this edition of the Casablanca Arbitration Days. Arbitration, Environment, Public health, Climate, Challenges, Digitalization, Disputes, Commercial, Investment, COVID-19