Investment Policy Forum Manila Tool Kit

The Manila Tool Kit, published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in March 2025, provides a practical framework for policy-makers in developing countries to achieve horizontal coherence between investment governance and other policy areas. It guides governments in aligning investment treaties, national laws, and contracts with international commitments related to sustainable development, climate action, and human rights to reduce regulatory inconsistencies and litigation risks.

• The Manila Tool Kit is designed to help policy-makers manage the intersection of investment instruments—specifically investment treaties, national investment laws, and investment contracts—with sector-specific policies (such as agriculture and mining) and broader regulations concerning public health, labour, and the environment.
• The tool employs a two-step Policy Coherence Framework. The first step involves mapping commitments under key international instruments (such as the Paris Agreement or the Convention on Biological Diversity) across specific policy areas like gender, health, and climate action. The second step benchmarks existing investment legal instruments against these identified commitments to determine if they support, are neutral toward, or contradict them.
• The benchmarking process in Step 2 allows states to identify specific investment provisions that may need to be revised, terminated, or renegotiated. For example, a stabilization clause in an investment contract that freezes outdated labour laws could be identified as conflicting with international human rights obligations.
• To maximize effectiveness, the Manila Tool Kit is intended to be used within an institutional coordination framework, such as the one previously established by the Panama Tool Kit for Institutional Coherence, though the Panama tool is not a strict prerequisite.
• The toolkit recommends that governments implement the framework by appointing leading officials or agencies, starting with a small number of priority international instruments to avoid complexity, and establishing a notification system for updates every 3 to 5 years.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2025). Investment Policy Forum Manila Tool Kit. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-03/investment-policy-forum-manila-tool-kit.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Investment Policy Forum Manila Tool Kit. 2025. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-03/investment-policy-forum-manila-tool-kit.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Investment Policy Forum Manila Tool Kit |date=March 2025 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-03/investment-policy-forum-manila-tool-kit.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2025investment, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Investment Policy Forum Manila Tool Kit}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2025}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-03/investment-policy-forum-manila-tool-kit.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }