CCLI

Private high-level meeting on climate liability and litigation at Paris COP21
2015-12-15 - 2022-12-15 | Paris, France
The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority recently pointed out that fiduciaries, including company directors and pension fund trustees, could be held liable for i) contributing to anthropogenic climate change and ii) not reasonably managing the risks associated with climate change. The Bank, and others, have said that this could potentially have significant implications for the insurance sector (in terms of directors and officers insurance), but also for other parts of the financial system and for fossil fuel companies as well.
In light of these developments, the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme at the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, together with ClientEarth, brought together key people attending COP21 to help navigate the path ahead. ClientEarth did significant work in this area, and the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme, together with ClientEarth and The Prince of Wales’s Accounting for Sustainability Project, were looking at these issues across Commonwealth common law jurisdictions, particularly Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the UK.
At the meeting information was shared about these activities, how these issues might develop in 2016 was explored, and areas of potential mutual support and collaboration were identified.

International Symposium on Directors' Liability for Climate Change Damages
2016-06-15 | University of Oxford
The first of three high-level international symposia on the legal exposures of company directors for climate change damages. The first symposium was held at Lady Margaret Hall, a college within the University of Oxford, on the 8th June 2016. Each symposium facilitated a cross-institutional and cross-jurisdictional exchange of legal thought leadership on director liability risks relevant to plaintiff and defence lawyers, regulators, investors, accountants, and insurers.

Climate Change Risk and Corporate Governance Directors' Duties and Liability Exposures in a post-Paris World
2016-08-01 | Melbourne, Australia
Climate change presents material – if not unparalleled – economic risks and opportunities. These emerging exposures have implications for corporate governance in climate-risk exposed industries (from financial services to mining, infrastructure, agriculture, and beyond), investors (banks, asset owners and managers) and for the insurance sector (professional indemnity and directors’ and officers’ insurance).
Despite these risks, there remains little in-depth analysis of how prevailing corporate governance laws and fiduciary duties facilitate – or constrain – the actions of company directors and trustees confronted with complex climate change challenges.
The symposium considered international developments in the law and liability for climate change damages, with a practical, inter-disciplinary perspectives provided by leading directors, economists, investors and insurance-sector executives.

Climate Risk and the Law Breakfast Seminar
2017-01-03 | London, London, United Kingdom
CCLI through ClientEarth, together with IIGCC, PRI, CDP, Influence Map and Bentham Europe, co-organised a breakfast seminar to explore the liability risks that climate change poses to companies, and what the law can do to help you to avoid risks and recover losses.
Recent high profile corporate scandals involving VW, as well as the collapse of the US coal sector, demonstrate that there are serious risks associated with the shift to a lower carbon economy. In both these cases, significant shareholder value was destroyed by either fraudulent or imprudent managerial practices. In the coming transition, additional regulatory pressure together with rapid technological change is guaranteed to create both winners and losers.
This event considered both how investors can seek to avoid backing losers, and how they can recover losses which may occur. In light of the recent release of the recommendations report of the FSB’s task force on climate-related financial disclosures, the event provided a forum to discuss how investors can confidently act on the additional information expected to become available, avoid systemic risk, and be confident active stewards of the companies they own.

Value Creation in a Sustainable Manner
2017-01-12 | Melbourne, Australia
Panel featuring Prof Mervyn King SC and CCLI’s Australian convenor, Sarah Barker (Minter Ellison), hosted by CPA Australia and Melbourne Law School’s Centre for Resources, Energy and Environmental Law (CREEL) and Centre for Corporate Law and Securities Regulation (CCLSR). This event explored the changing role of the corporation and how this may play out in complex regulatory and legal environments. The panel discussions revolved around the potential effects of local and international developments in climate change litigation. Some of questions that being addressed included whether or not and how increased shareholder activism will force corporate decision-makers to consider and manage climate change risks, and if this will drive a longer term perspective and preserve corporate value, among others.

Climate Change Liability: Directors and Officers
2017-01-17 - 2022-01-17 | London, London, United Kingdom
Alice Garton, part of CCLI, joined a panel examine international developments in the emerging field of climate change litigation. This seminar addresses warnings given in 2015 in a major report by the Prudential Regulation Authority, highlighting potential liabilities for companies and directors in relation to:
– contribution to loss and damage caused by anthropogenic climate change;
– a failure to adequately manage the business risks associated with climate change; and
– inaccurate disclosure or reporting of climate related business risks.

Castle Debate: Legal Liability for Climate Change
2017-02-01 | London, London, United Kingdom
As business steels itself to deal with seismic changes in the world’s climate, what is legally expected of directors is becoming more stringent. The Paris Climate talks in December 2015 confirmed what we already knew – that more serious action is required from the corporate world in future. Business leaders must understand how to respond to this cultural, regulatory and economic shift – which means legal and financial experts must collaborate to elucidate the law and give the right information to business leaders.

FT Climate Finance Summit: Scaling up Finance for Climate Action
2017-05-01 | London, London, United Kingdom
Alice Garton, co-investigator at CCLI and Company and Financial Project Leader at ClientEarth, spoke at the FT Climate Finance Summit in London, which gathered some of the leading decision makers, policy makers and investors, to explore the role of international finance in global efforts to combat climate change, as well as the risks and opportunities for businesses, financial markets and investors in the new climate economy.

Roundtable on The Climate Disclosure Challenge – Can existing accounting, reporting and assurance standards accommodate the Financial Stability Board Taskforce recommendations?
2017-07-01 | Melbourne, Australia
This Roundtable was arranged by Chartered Accountants ANZ and CPA Australia, in cooperation with the Commonwealth Climate & Law Initiative (CCLI).
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) presented its final Recommendations to the FSB and G20 in Hamburg on 7-8 July, 2017. Whilst ‘voluntary’, the TCFD Recommendations are an influential statement on those forms of analysis and disclosure required to present a ‘true and fair view’ of material climate change risks, and their impact on corporate performance and prospects. With most Australian listed entities having a 30 June year-end, Australia was amongst the first jurisdictions to consider the application of the TCFD Recommendations in the preparation of annual reports and audited financial statements.

National Environmental Law Association Annual Conference 'Addressing Past Harm, Managing Future Risks'
2017-08-20 | Brisbane, Australia
The 2017 NELA conference brought together a range of experts to discuss the state of Australia’s environment, how various States are addressing past impacts, and innovative mechanisms being explored to avoid future harm. Examining mining rehabilitation, groundwater management, climate risk disclosure, sustainable business practices were among the topics of particular interest.

Symposia on Climate Change and Liability Risks to Directors, Officers and Companies in Canada
2017-10-01 08:00 - 17:00 UTC | Vancouver and Toronto, Canada
The symposia highlighted what leading companies are doing to manage climate change risk and to develop opportunities from the policy transition underway to a low-carbon economy.
The symposia did involve leading members of Canada’s business, law and investment communities to discuss the liability risks to Canadian directors and companies from failing to take seriously the need to transition to a low-carbon economy, and to think through strategies to ameliorate those risks and to promote strong, facilitative governance and regulatory policies for both companies and investors. Discussions addressed boards’ and investment trustees’ fiduciary obligations to develop climate-resilient strategies; securities disclosure requirements and liability risks; and the best thinking on operationalizing Canada’s transition to a low-carbon economy.
Panel 1

Panel 2

Panel 3

Panel 4

Directors' duties and liabilities around climate risk: the TCFD recommendations
2017-12-01 08:00 - 17:00
This webinar provided an overview of the regulatory landscape in relation to the TCFD recommendations and climate risk, in addition to a detailed analysis of the current situation in Australia and the UK. It helped to generate a better understanding of the duties directors are responsible for, as well as the liability risks they may be exposed to.

Symposia on Directors' Liability for Climate Change Damages
2018-01-20 10:00 - 17:00 | Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa
The Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI) organised two high-level symposia in South Africa on the legal basis for directors and trustees to consider, manage, and report on climate change-related risk, and the circumstances in which they may be liable for failing to do so. These events are relevant to a wide range of organisations working on or interested in climate change issues.
The first symposium was held at The Westcliff Hotel in Johannesburg on Tuesday 16 January 2018. The second symposium was held at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town on Thursday 18 January 2018.

CCLI Country Report Launch and Reception
2018-04-01 10:00 - 17:00 | London, London, United Kingdom
To coincide with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London in April 2018, the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI) launched and published a series of research reports, including an actionable framework for directors to integrate climate change issues into governance practice and policy recommendations for directors’ associations and financial regulators.

Directors' Duties Regarding Climate Change in Japan
2021-02-01 10:00 - 17:00
The report was launched at a webinar hosted by the Japan Climate Leaders’ Partnership, with presentations from the authors of the report, as well as Mr. Satoshi Ikeda (Chief Sustainable Finance Officer, Financial Services Agency of Japan) and Mr. Masami Hasegawa (Director, Environment & Energy Bureau, Keidanren). The combination of speakers provided a valuable diversity of perspectives on the issue, covering the detailed legal analysis, as well as the investor and regulatory perspectives.

Legal opinion on Directors’ Responsibilities and Climate Change under Singapore law
2021-04-14 10:00 - 17:00
The legal opinion was launched at a webinar with over 800 attendees in conjunction with the EW Barker Centre for Law & Business at the National University of Singapore and The Law Society of Singapore. Presentations were given by speakers including external speakers Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara (Executive Director & CEO, Temasek International), Dr Michael Hwang, SC (Sole Director, Michael Hwang Chambers LLC). The recording is available to Singaporean Lawyers on the Law Society of Singapore’s website and is used as an educational resource.
Not available on a public platform

Primer on Climate Change: Directors’ Duties and Disclosure Obligations
2021-06-01 10:00 - 17:00
The Global Primer was launched in EMEA, Latin America, Asia Pacific and North America. Our supporters for these events included the Canada Climate Law Initiative, Aviva Investors, Chapter Zero UK, Chapter Zero France, Climate Governance Malaysia, the AICD (Australian Institute of Corporate Directors), the New Zealand Institute of Directors, the ICDM (Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia), the Singapore Institute of Directors, the Indian Institute of Directors, Chapter Zero Mexico, Chapter Zero Brazil, the Thai Institute of Directors, the Canada Institute of Directors and the NACD (National Association of Corporate Directors).
EMEA Launch

APAC Launch

North America launch:
Legal Primer on Climate Change: Directors’ Duties and Disclosure Obligations

Note: LatAm launch not available on a public platform)

Directors' duties and climate change in India
2021-10-04 10:00 - 13:00
We discussed the legal opinion and white paper at a webinar co-hosted with the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF). This event was focused on the legal community, which we believe holds a substantial degree of influence over director behaviour, and our range of speakers complemented the aspects by which lawyers can influence their clients, from in-house to private practice. Speakers included Cyril Shroff (Managing Partner of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, one of the largest Indian law firms), Neera Sharma (Director and Head of Legal at Sistema Smart Technologies) and Dr. Lalit Bhasin (President of SILF and founder of Bhasin & Co.), and the event was moderated by Anubhav Kapoor (Director of Legal Affairs at Ford India).

Directors' duties and disclosure obligations under Hong Kong law regarding climate change
2021-12-10 08:00 - 10:00
The legal opinion and white paper were discussed at a virtual event co-hosted with the Asian Institute of International Financial Law (AIIFL), part of the University of Hong Kong. Speakers included Christine Lau (Assistant Vice President, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX)), Alex Bidlake (Corporate Partner, Linklaters) and Dr. Emily Lee (Director of AIIFL and Associate Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong).

Sample Event #2
2022-08-06 | Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
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Sample Event #3
2022-08-07 | Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom

Sample Event #1
2022-08-09 08:00 - 17:00 | Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
