摘要：The aim of this contribution is to examine how the environmental conundrums are brought before arbitral tribunals within the ambit of international investment law. It seeks to understand whether these tribunals specialised in investment law constitute an appropriate forum to consider environmental issues. The method applied is an inductive one. The general argumentation is indeed induced from the study of the awards rendered by arbitral tribunals, mainly within the Latin-American region. In this vein, the article concludes that although investment tribunals are not primarily designated to apply environmental law, they do, practically, accept environment protection arguments: this will be presented as an “environmental defense”. The article highlights the conditions for such a defense to be successful. For this reason, the contribution has a practical value: instead of focusing on the protection of the environment as a mere objective – as it is often done -, it presents such a protection as a means of defense in arbitral litigations.
关键词：Direito internacional dos investimentos; arbitragem internacional; direito ambiental
