Green Transition and the Future of Africa’s Investment Policy

Inaugural lecture: Professor Chrispas Nyombi

In this lecture, Professor Chrispas Nyombi presented evidence-based arguments and proposed solutions to address the impacts of climate change in Africa, aiming to spur policy action and extend protection to the "real victims" of climate change through climate-informed and environmentally sustainable investment policies.

The urgency to prevent a climate catastrophe has sparked debates on the role of law in facilitating a green transition. Within international investment law, these debates have highlighted the structural misalignments between the investment law framework and climate action. However, many African policymakers hold the prevailing view that, with Africa having contributed only 3 percent to global carbon dioxide emissions since the industrial revolution, the continent is neither the architect nor the primary beneficiary of the fossil-fuelled industrial development that has driven climate change. This perspective has fostered a "why should we care?" attitude towards climate issues.

In this lecture, Chrispas argued for reframing this discussion to focus on a deeper understanding of climate change impacts and the need for Africa's international investment regime to be repurposed and reformed, with an emphasis on aligning investment policy with a green revolution that reflects Africa's unique needs and perspectives.

Professor Chrispas Nyombi

Professor Chrispas Nyombi is widely acknowledged as a world leading scholar on African investment law. At UNECA, he is a major resource person on the AfCFTA Investment Protocol. The confidence East African governments repose in his expertise is evidenced by his appointment to negotiate the EAC Investment Policy and Strategy 2019-2024 and enlistment on the World Bank’s ICSID Panels of Arbitrators by Uganda in 2023.