Think Piece On U.S. Foreign Policy

Terms of reference

The purpose of this paper is to answer the question: What are the potential significance and feasibility of increased integration of economic objectives – specifically those related to private investment flows to developing countries – and environmental objectives in U.S. foreign policy, and the projection of that integration into multilateral fora? The authors were asked to assess:

• the nature and magnitude of current contradictions/lost opportunities that result from failure to integrate environmental objectives into trade and investment policies, and to identify what environmental objectives could be more effectively addressed if the U.S. were to unilaterally increase their integration into trade and investment policies and multilateral fora;

• the principal conceptual, institutional, and political barriers to increased integration, the status/experience of current integration efforts, and the lessons learned from other issues/processes; and

• which among the array of potential arenas for agents of increased integration are most ripe for accelerated progress, and what existing or new alliances, fora, or techniques hold the most promise of effectiveness in eliciting and exercising U.S. leadership to promote integration of environmental considerations into private investment flows to developing countries.