Global Project Finance, Human Rights and Sustainable Development

This book looks at the positive and negative effects project finance has on societies: for socially responsible investment versus the constraints placed upon the investing parties. The book takes these positive and negative impacts and tries to marry the demands of commercial performance with respect for human rights and environmental protection. It sets out the basics behind the finance model, observes the positive and negative features and goes on to look at international case studies. Finally, it goes on to make proposals for reform.

Sheldon Leader is Professor in the School of Law, University of Essex, and Director of the Essex Business and Human Rights Project. He works in the area of economic relations and human rights, as well as in legal theory. He has focused on the human rights impact of investment strategies, most recently in Kosovo working with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He formulated the basic principles for the Human Rights Undertaking governing the BTC pipeline, the first legally binding human rights commitment incorporated into an international investment contract. David Ong is a reader at the School of Law, University of Essex, where he teaches and researches in the fields of Public International Law and Environmental Law. He has served as a technical expert and resource person for United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) activities on Oil and Gas Producing Developing Countries, as well as for the (OSCE) Mission in Kosovo, alongside Professor Leader.