ICSID Published Its Annual Report for 2025

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) has published its annual report (“Report”) for the 2025 fiscal year.[1]

Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, ICSID achieved a significant milestone by registering its 1000th case in August 2024. The report showcases the high demand for ICSID’s services around the world, as evidenced by the data.[2]

i. Caseload

ICSID’s caseload proves the importance of organization’s role in international dispute resolution, as 67 new cases were registered this year, which is the second highest number of new cases for a fiscal year. Similarly, ICSID concluded 81 cases, which is the second highest number of proceedings concluded in a fiscal year. ICSID also provided services for 15 cases governed by other procedural frameworks, 12 of which were governed by UNCITRAL. In total, ICSID also reached the highest number of cases administered in a fiscal year in 2025, with 347 cases administered by the secretariat. The report noted that this number amounted to %33 of ICSID’s entire caseload up to this fiscal year.  

Consistent with previous years, the most common basis of proceedings remained bilateral or multilateral treaties. Thirty-two cases asserted ICSID jurisdiction citing a bilateral investment treaty, while four cases were brought under the Energy Charter Treaty.

81 proceedings were concluded in 2025 fiscal year, 53 of which were original arbitrations, 27 were post-award proceedings, and 1 was a conciliation proceeding. Out of these 53 original arbitrations, 79% were decided by the tribunal, while the rest were settled or otherwise discontinued.

The primary remedy sought by claimants in ICSID arbitrations is financial compensation for alleged breaches of investment obligations by host states, with amounts varying significantly depending on the nature of the investment and dispute. In 2025, tribunals awarded no damages in 51% of their decisions, often due to jurisdictional grounds or lack of liability. In cases where damages were granted, 15% of awards ranged from $10 million to $49 million, and 12% were between $100 million and $499 million.

ii. Global Reach

In 2025 fiscal year, States from all geographic regions of the world were represented in ICSID proceedings. While the largest share of state parties belonged to sub-Saharan Africa (24%), Central America and the Caribbean (19%), and South America (18%), the investors involved in the proceedings were mostly Western European (44%) and North American (19%). With 6 new registrations, Honduras was the most frequent respondent State in cases registered in 2025. Notably, Honduras’ written notice of denunciation of the ICSID Convention, submitted under Article 71 was received by the World Bank on February 24, 2024, and became effective on August 25, 2024.

iii. Sectoral Distribution

The sectoral distribution of ICSID cases was diverse in 2025, though it continued the historical trend of being led by the extractive and energy industries. The oil, gas, and mining sector represented 43% of new disputes, with mining alone accounting for 19 cases. This was followed by construction (15%) and electric power/other energy sources (12%). Smaller shares were held by information and communication (8%), finance (5%), transportation (3%), and services/trade (1% ), with other industries making up the final 13%.

iv. Diversity in Appointments

233 appointments were made to ICSID tribunals, conciliation commissions, and ad hoc committees in 2025. 66% of these appointments were made by the parties or by the party-appointed arbitrators. 48 different nationalities were represented in the appointments, which is the second highest number of nationalities for appointed arbitrators. The nationalities most frequently appointed to ad hoc committees were French (17), Canadian (16), and British (12). Regionally, Western Europe accounted for the largest share of appointees (39%), followed by South America (22%).

Overall, 30% of the appointed arbitrators were women, 49% of which were appointed by ICSID, while the remaining were assigned by parties or co-arbitrators.

v. Global Outreach

In 2025, ICSID conducted 88 workshops and a total of 150 activities around the world. ICSID has also been participating in UNCITRAL Working Group sessions, as well as UNIDROIT initiative. Additionally, ICSID forged two new partnerships in 2025, one of which is with the Council for International Dispute Resolution of the Kingdom of Bahrain on February 20, 2025 to bolster investment mediation capacity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and another with the Madrid International Arbitration Center on May 29, 2025 to promote the use of arbitration, mediation, and other ADR methods for investment disputes.

vi. Membership

At the end of the 2025 fiscal year, the number of signatories to ICSID Convention rose to 165 states, with 158 of them having ratified the convention to become Contracting States. All Contracting States are represented in the Administrative Council, the governing body of ICSID. ICSID membership, which is voluntary and free for States to join and maintain, isa positive factor in the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency’s risk assessments for insurance guarantees and in the World Bank Group’s broader evaluation of a country's investment climate, particularly in terms of investment protection and dispute resolution.

With thanks to Yağmur Melek Sarıhasanoğlu for her contributions.

References

ICSID. (2025). ICSID Annual Report. Retrieved from ICSID: https://icsid.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/publications/ICSID_AnnualReport2025_ENG.pdf

ICSID Publishes 2025 Annual Report with Expanded Caseload Statistics. (2025, October 17). Retrieved from ICSID: https://icsid.worldbank.org/news-and-events/news-releases/icsid-publishes-2025-annual-report-expanded-caseload-statistics