Governance and Legal
Governance and Legal
The resources below have been collated to provide non-executive directors with a knowledge hub. This brings together relevant climate change materials from regulators, standard setters and other content creators.
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Newly added resources
| ICGN Viewpoint: Board of Directors and Climate Change | Outlines how investors and companies can engage on the systemic risk of climate change whilst also managing COVID-19 | 15 August 2020 |
| Eight priorities for boards as they tackle the COVID-19 crisis | EY Center for Board Matters has produced Board Agenda 2020. As well as COVID-19, it identifies seven other corporate governance matters that should be strategic priorities for boards and audit committees over the coming months. | 18 June 2020 |
Previous reports, analysis and articles
| Organisation / Publication / Author | Link | Information | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Corporate Governance Network | The Board of Directors and Climate Change | But even in these more climate-savvy companies, the topic is typically “owned” by management, and often lies outside the NEDs’ comfort zone; as such, many directors are quick to downplay it on the grounds that “management’s got this one”. Would they say the same about the audit? About strategy or risk management? | 15/08/2020 |
| BBC News | Huge implications to Irish climate case across Europe | The Supreme Court quashed the government’s 2017 National Mitigation Plan, ruling that it did not give enough detail on the reduction of greenhouse gases. The case was brought by environmental group Friends of the Irish Environment. | 01/08/2020 |
| Grantham Research Institute | Global trends in climate change litigation: 2020 snapshot | Provides an updated assessment of known metrics for categorising cases and explores the growing focus in climate cases on human rights and the different strategies used in recent litigation against major fossil fuel companies. | 03/07/2020 |
| Financial Review Michael Roddan | Climate disclosure ‘box ticking’ could trigger director lawsuits: KPMG | There is a “real danger” company directors are exposing themselves to litigation by taking a “box ticking” approach to disclosing climate change-related financial risks in annual reports, KPMG warns. | 01/06/2020 |
| Mark Carney Governor of the Bank of England, Finance Adviser to the Prime Minister for COP26 | The Road to Glasgow | The scale of these requirements is enormous: $3.5trillion in infrastructure investment alone every year for decades. All forms of finance: public, private and blended finance will play a part. Public finance to support a fair and inclusive transition across our economies. Development and blended finance to support adaptation and resilience. And mainstream finance help all companies realign their business models for net zero. The objective for the private finance work for COP 26 is simple: ensure that every financial decision tasks climate change into account. | 27/02/2020 |
| Equiniti | Equiniti 2020 AGM Season Forecast | To help companies prepare for 2020, the report focuses on Regulatory Impacts; Executive Compensation; Environmental, Social and Governance Issues; Board Accountability, and Shareholder Activism. | 20/02/2020 |
| WBCSD | Modernizing governance: key recommendations for boards to ensure business resilience | In today’s complex and uncertain world, focusing on near-term shareholder value alone is no longer enough to ensure long-term business success. Sustained value creation requires companies to manage business performance to ensure that sustainability matters that affect business value are addressed. At present substantial value is being destroyed by governance systems that fail to address wider sustainability matters affecting the company. | 29/01/2020 |
| The Investment Association | Shareholder priorities for 2020 – Supporting long term value in UK listed company | This year the IA has developed expectations on four areas that members believe can be critical drivers of long-term value: Responding to climate change, Audit quality, Stakeholder engagement, and Diversity. This document outlines why investors consider these four issues to be important areas of focus for companies this year and also sets out their expectations for change in 2020. | 01/01/2020 |
| Deloitte | A must read for Those Charged With Governance | Investors, regulators and other business stakeholders are increasingly demanding better disclosures on climate change matters and challenging companies that are not factoring the effects of climate change into their critical accounting judgements. Revenues, costs and asset lives could be impacted, and companies will need to reassess their future cash flow forecasts and related management judgements relating to impairment, asset retirement obligations, provisions, going concern and viability statements. | 12/12/2019 |
| Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative | Directors’ Liability and Climate Risk. Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom | This report represents a high-level summary of the detailed legal analysis contained in four country papers produced by the CCLI on directors’ duties and climate risk in Australia, Canada, South Africa and the UK. | 01/10/2019 |
| Sabrina Bruno, Full Professor of Private Comparative Law University of Calabria, In Corporate Governance and Research & Development Studies. | The World Economic Forum Principles on “Climate Governance on Corporate Boards”: can soft law help to face climate change around the world? | Climate change is a financial factor that carries with it risks and opportunities for companies. To support boards of directors of companies belonging to all jurisdictions, the World Economic Forum issued in January 2019 eight Principles containing both theoretical and practical provisions on: climate accountability, competence, governance, management, disclosure and dialogue. The paper analyses each Principle to understand scope and managerial consequences for boards and to evaluate whether the legal distinctions, among the various jurisdictions, may undermine the application of the Principles or, by contrast, despite the differences the Principles may be a useful and effective guidance to drive boards’ of directors’ conduct around the world in handling climate change challenges. Five jurisdictions are taken into consideration for this comparative analysis: Europe (and UK), US, Australia, South Africa and Canada. The conclusion is that the WEF Principles, as soft law, is the best possible instrument to address boards of directors of worldwide companies, harmonise their conduct and effectively help facing such global emergency. | 01/10/2019 |
| Legal and General | A guide to climate governance | L&G: Why should companies disclose the impact of climate change on their business and performance and what governance procedures and disclosures should company Boards put in place to ensure that climate considerations are core, and comprehensively linked, to their business planning and strategy? | 01/10/2019 |
| World Economic Forum | World Economic Forum in collaboration. with PWC: How to set up effective climate governance in corporate boards – guiding principles and questions | What governance principles are needed to increase directors’ accountability, climate awareness and their commitment to embed climate considerations into Board structures and stewardship? | 01/01/2019 |
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