A contract law for future generations

Abstract

While attention for the social and environmental impacts of international business is certainly not new, the past years have seen renewed interest due pressing global problems such as climate change, poverty, and human rights violations. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are increasingly called upon to play an active role and thus contribute to a more sustainable development. Interestingly, legal scholars are studying how MNEs are adopting codes of conduct advancing sustainable development goals to rule their commercial relationships with their suppliers in global supply chains. Some of these goals are incorporated in contractual terms when the company insert sustainability contractual clauses in international supply agreements. These contractual provisions dealing with public values represent "irritant clauses" for contract theory and pose some challenging questions to contract law scholars. The article considers, in particular, the following research questions: firstly, are these contractual provisions binding and enforceable by the parties or by a third party to the contract? Secondly, are they really "part of the contract" or do they play many functions? Thirdly, do they have an impact in advancing sustainability goals? Finally, the case of sustainability contractual clauses confirms that a new, specifically intergenerational, contract theory is needed.