Making FDI More Sustainable : Towards an Indicative List of FDI Sustainability Characteristics

Reaching the SDGs has become the lodestar of development policymaking. Increased sustainable FDI flows to developing countries can make an important contribution to reaching the Goals. This article analyzes 150 instruments (treaties, standards, codes) prepared by key stakeholder groups in the FDI space and bearing on the relationship between host country governments and foreign investors, to identify FDI sustainability characteristics along the following four dimensions: economic, social and environmental development and governance. These instruments indicate the kind of contributions governments and intergovernmental organizations expect MNEs to make to host countries; what kind of contributions MNEs and business organizations expect to make to host countries; and what others expect from MNEs in this respect. The analysis yields a set of indicative “common FDI sustainability characteristics”, as well as a set of indicative “emerging common FDI sustainability characteristics”, with all stakeholder groups showing a growing propensity to recognize them. These indicative FDI sustainability characteristics, in turn, can give guidance to both legal and policy development regarding the role international investors can, and should, make to reach the SDGs