Abstract The emergency arbitrator is a person appointed to grant emergency relief pending the constitution of an arbitral tribunal. Numerous arbitral institutions started to introduce the emergency arbitrator procedure in order to provide a more effective system for the protection and preservation of parties’ rights. However, the ICSID Convention and the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, which are the most common dispute resolution rules used in investment treaties, do not recognize the emergency arbitrator procedure. By contrast, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) allows the application of its emergency arbitrator rules in investment treaty disputes. In fact, there have been seven recent cases in which investors used the SCC Rules to seek emergency relief. This article evaluates introducing the emergency arbitrator procedure in investment treaty disputes. It discusses possible objections by States and concludes that the procedure is not inconsistent with the features of investment treaty disputes.