Are your performance contracts current or out of date?

Do your performance contracts with vendors/clients include environmental language?

Do they include corporate social responsibility language?

Per this article, environmental aspects are present in 30% of all arbitrations and corporate social responsibility is present in 26%.

Prior to 2025 it was common for investors to sue governments over things like financial programs (when a government did not invest in a sector due to environmental concerns).

But in July 2025 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (ICtHR) issued an advisory opinion regarding the obligations of governments to take measures to mitigate the effects of climate change, saying that: “in cases of conflict between international investment obligations and the duty to protect the climate system, the latter must prevail…”

Then, later in July 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark advisory opinion, concluding that international law requires governments to prevent significant harm due to climate.

Read together, these two opinions significantly strengthen the position of governments to bring claims against investors and business operators.

This brings us back to your performance contracts and the need for them to include language balancing your performance duties against the greater societal duties of sustainability and social responsibility.