The UN International Investment-Sustainable Development Nexus during the Rise of ESG Investments

  • Date: May 25th, Tuesday, 2021 12:00 – 13:00
  • Location: Youngone Hall (Room 210), SNUAC (Bldg. 101) [in English]

Speaker: Soo-hyun Lee (Sweden Lund University + UNDP)

This presentation examines the rapid growth of environment, social, governance (ESG) investment from within a framework constructed through the instruments and initiatives of the United Nations. The role of international private sector investment has been of increasing prominence in the agenda pushed by the UN towards achieving sustainable development from the Monterrey Consensus and now Agenda 2030. However, while the exponential rise of private sector interest in development is laudable, particular in South Korea and Japan, financial institutions and credit rating agencies have been taking the lead in defining what types of investment advance sustainable development and how to measure that contribution. When these definitions and measurements do not align with or only marginally correspond with the UN’s conception of the role of international investment in sustainable development, then the private sector actors involved in this process and the UN enter a relationship of competition. To avoid such a relationship, the UN has engaged in either a limited liability partnership approach with the private sector, such as with the “UN-backed” Principles of Responsible Investment or the “UN-convened” Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, or in a facilitative role such as with the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI) or the Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance.
Unless the role of the UN is better leveraged, its framework on the nexus between international investment and sustainable development will be excluded from the quickly advancing sustainable investment.

 

Bio

Soo-hyun LEE is a Visiting Scholar Fellow at the Seoul National University Asia Centre, a Research Analyst in due diligence at the United Nations, and a UN 2030 Agenda PhD Researcher in Financing for Development at Lund University. He is also an Investment Law and Policy Fellow at the Columbia Centre for Sustainable Investment at Columbia University. Prior, he was a Research Associate in International Law and Dispute Settlement at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies (2015-2019), Research Fellow at the UN Commission on International Trade Law (2013-2017), and a consultant at United Nations University (2013) and the UN Global Compact (2009-2011). He began his PhD at the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law, and is currently finishing his dissertation at Lund University, Faculty of Law. He studied international economic law and sustainable development through the UN University in association with the University of Tokyo at the postgraduate level and completed his undergraduate studies at New York University and Bucknell University. In 2019, he began a start-up consultancy firm in Seoul and Tokyo that specializes in law and sustainable investment and as an international lawyer, he specializes in international economic law and arbitration. His research interests include international economic law, international investment policy, trade and investment disputes, and sustainable finance and development.

This event will be held in English.