Emma Aisbett is an Associate Professor at the ANU School of Law and Associate Director (Research) for the Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia Pacific Grand Challenge at the Australian National University. Emma has degrees in Chemical Engineering (UNSW), Environmental Management (Oxford) and Economics (UC Berkeley). She combines her interdisciplinary understanding with extensive government and industry engagement to develop solutions to problems at the intersection of international economic regulation and the environment. In addition to publishing in leading journals in economics, political science, law and engineering, Emma provides expertise to Australian Government and industry, and to international organisations such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, OECD and UNCTAD.
She is one of the world’s leading interdisciplinary scholars on international investment agreements, with over 600 citations to publications in leading law, political science and economics journals. She has been invited to present to the OECD Freedom of Investment Roundtable and UNTAC High-level meetings on IIAs. She was was recently awarded the 2021 JIEL John H Jackson Prize for most significantly breaking new ground and adding new insights to the study & understanding of International Economic Law.
Her current research focusses on Trade & Investment-Related Climate Policies, and their intersection with Green Industrial Policy. She is currently leading the Australian side of the certification work in the Germany-Australia HySupply project, is Lead CI on an ARC Linkage Project on Public Embedded Emissions Accounting to Support Net Zero Trade, and is Theme Lead for Market Activation on the recently announced ARC Industrial Transition Research Hub on Carbon Utilisation and Recycling.
Appointments
- Associate Director (Research) ANU Grand Challeng: Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific
Significant research publications
- Aisbett, E & Bonnitcha, J 2021, 'A Pareto-Improving Compensation Rule for Investment Treaties', Journal of International Economic Law, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 181-202.
- Bonnitcha, J & Aisbett, E 2021, 'Against balancing: Revisiting the use/regulation distinction to reform liability and compensation under investment treaties', University of Michigan journal of law reform. University of Michigan. Law School, vol. 42, pp. 231-290.
- Aisbett, E, Silberberger, M & Silberberger, M 2021, 'Tariff liberalization and product standards: Regulatory chill and race to the bottom?', Regulation & Governance, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 987-1006.
- Skovgaard Poulsen, L & Aisbett, E 2013, 'When the Claim Hits: Bilateral Investment Treaties and Bounded Rational Learning', World Politics, vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 273-313.
- Aisbett, E 2009, 'Bilateral Investment Treaties and Foreign Direct Investment: Correlation versus Causation', in Karl Sauvant and Lisa Sachs (ed.), The Effect of Treaties on Foreign Direct Investment: Bilateral Investment Treaties, Double Taxation Treaties, and Investment Flows, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 395-437.
View more publications on the ANU Researchers website
Link to ANU researchers profileRelated websites
Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific Grand ChallengeView more publications on the ANU Researchers website
Link to ANU researchers profileResearch projects & collaborations
- Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific Grand Challenge
- ARC Linkage Project: Embedded Emissions Accounting to Support Net Zero Trade (Lead CI)
- ARC Industrial Transition Research Hub: Carbon Utilisation and Recycling (Theme Leader, Market Activation)
- Australia-Germany HySupply Project (Certification Lead)
Commissioned reports
- Emma Aisbett, Wenting Cheng, Iain MacGill (UNSW), & Lee White, Approaches to certifying Australia-Germany Green Hydrogen Supply Chains: informing discussion, Produced for the German-Australian HySupply Project, (August 2022)
- Scoping Study on New and Emerging Environmental Goods, Produced for APEC Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI), Market Access Group (MAG) (December 2021)
Government submissions
- Emma Aisbett, Submission to the OECD Public Consultation on Investment Treaties and Climate Change, (April 2022)
- Emma Aisbett, Esme Shirlow, Christian Downie and Lily O’Neill, Submission to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Review of Australia's Bilateral Investment Treaties (September 2020)
- Emma Aisbett, Ken Baldwin, Fiona Beck, Llewelyn Hughes, Penelope Howarth, John Pye, Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growt (August 2020)
- Emma Aisbett, Fiona Beck, Wenting Cheng, Penelope Howarth, Llewelyn Hughes, Frank Jotzo, Thomas Longden, John Pye, Elizabeth Ratnam, Igor Skryabin, Matt Stocks and Lee White, Ken Baldwin, Submission to Technology Investment Roadmap (July 2020)
- Emma Aisbett & Jonathan Bonnitcha, Submission to Productivity Commissions Review of Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements (2010)
PhD supervision
I am willing to supervise in the areas:
- international investment agreements
- trade or investment-related climate policy
- including certification, carbon-border adjustments, environmental goods liberalisation, embedded emissions accounting
- international green economy collaborations
SJD supervision
I am willing to supervise in the areas:
- international investment agreements
- trade or investment-related climate policy
- including certification, carbon-border adjustments, environmental goods liberalisation, embedded emissions accounting
- international green economy collaborations
MPhil supervision
I am willing to supervise in the areas:
- international investment agreements
- trade or investment-related climate policy
- including certification, carbon-border adjustments, environmental goods liberalisation, embedded emissions accounting
- international green economy collaborations
LLM Masters thesis supervision
I am willing to supervise in the areas:
- international investment agreements
- trade or investment-related climate policy
- including certification, carbon-border adjustments, environmental goods liberalisation, embedded emissions accounting
- international green economy collaborations
Honours thesis supervision
I am willing to supervise in the areas:
- international investment agreements
- trade or investment-related climate policy
- including certification, carbon-border adjustments, environmental goods liberalisation, embedded emissions accounting
- international green economy collaborations
Internship supervision
I am willing to supervise in the areas:
- international investment agreements
- trade or investment-related climate policy
- including certification, carbon-border adjustments, environmental goods liberalisation, embedded emissions accounting
- international green economy collaborations
How my works connects with public policy
I am a transdisciplinary researcher with an engagement and impact focussed approach to research. I collobarate extensively with Australian Government including in my role as Associate Director (Resarch) for the Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific Grand Challenge, through mentoring, supervising and coauthoring with secondees from Government and through the ARC Linkage Project on Embedded Emissions Accounting to support Net Zero Trade (for which the Climate Change Authority, Clean Energy Regulatory and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are Partner Organisations).
