The New Era of ISDS

Thursday, 27 August 2026 | 4:30 pm – 7:00 pm SGT 
Venue: Rajah & Tann Singapore, Level 7 Courtyard, Marina One West Tower, 9 Straits View, Singapore 018937

The investor-State dispute settlement system was built for a world of capital liberalisation and diplomatic stability. Today it faces a fundamentally different reality - one shaped by armed conflict, sanctions regimes, climate emergencies, and a resurgent politics of sovereignty.

This panel moves beyond the now-familiar debate over a multilateral investment court to explore other interconnected issues defining ISDS's new era. It examines how Cold War-era treaties may have become instruments of geopolitical leverage amid inter-State conflicts and sanctions; how the energy transition has placed investor protection on a collision course with States' climate obligations; how proposals for State counterclaims could materially alter ISDS's status as a one-way facility protecting investors; and how a growing wave of treaty withdrawals signals a deeper legitimacy reckoning.

The panel discussion asks not whether ISDS will survive, but what it must become: Does the UNCITRAL Working Group III ISDS Reform has all the answers? Do practitioners have to become more renovative in terms of dispute resolution alternatives?