Six Reasons for Emphasizing Responsible Business Conduct in the Nascent WTO Agreement on Investment Facilitation for Development

Enterprises are increasingly expected to observe environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators and report about them. In the context of foreign direct investment (FDI), it is becoming more and more common to require foreign investors to engage in responsible business conduct as prescribed in national, bilateral, regional, and multilateral instruments (laws, treaties) dealing with FDI. It is a concept that is replacing corporate social responsibility as the dominant concept, as responsible business conduct refers not only to social issues, but also to development issues. This brief note outlines why the Agreement on Investment Facilitation for Development being negotiated at the WTO should contain a strong provision on responsible business conduct