Law Commons^™

Commonwealth Climate And Law Initiative - Climate Change And Legal Risk, Janis P. Sarra, Cynthia Williams

Cynthia A. Williams

In this presentation, Dr Janis Sarra, Presidential Distinguished Professor and Professor of Law University of British Columbia, outlined the fiduciary obligations of corporate directors and pension fiduciaries as they relate to climate change. Professor Cynthia A. Williams, Osler Chair in Business Law, Osgoode Hall Law School provided an overview of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, highlighted the potential for liability risks in Canada for misleading or inaccurate disclosures relating to climate change, and surveyed the field of current climate-related litigation.

Time To Act: Response To Questions Posed By The Expert Panel On Sustainable Finance On Fiduciary Obligation And Effective Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, Cynthia Williams, Janis P. Sarra

Cynthia A. Williams

The Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance has been commissioned by the Canadian Government to determine how best to generate sustainable finance, a significant challenge given the carbon intensity of Canada’s economy. The Expert Panel has defined sustainable finance as capital flows, risk management activities and financial processes that assimilate environmental and social factors as a means of promoting sustainable economic growth and the long-term stability of the financial system. While there are numerous strategies to be deployed to move Canada to a financially sustainable future, this report addresses two critically important issues: fiduciary obligation of corporate- and pension-fiduciaries, and national …

Disclosure Of Information Concerning Climate Change: Liability Risks And Opportunities, Cynthia A. Williams

Cynthia A. Williams

The Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI) has published two legal research papers on Canadian fiduciary duties and disclosure obligations in the climate change context. In Obligations in Business and Investment: Implications of Climate Change, legal analysis by Dr Janis Sarra, Presidential Distinguished Professor and Professor of Law University of British Columbia, shows that directors, officers and pension fund trustees must identify and address climate-related financial risk or they may be personally liable for breach of their fiduciary obligation or duty of care. In Disclosure of Information Concerning Climate Change: Liability Risks and Opportunities, Cynthia A. Williams, Osler …

Request For Rulemaking On Environmental, Social, And Governance (Esg) Disclosure, Cynthia Williams, Jill E. Fisch

Cynthia A. Williams

Enclosed is a petition for a rulemaking on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure authored by Osler Chair in Business Law Cynthia A. Williams, Osgoode Hall Law School, and Saul A. Fox Distinguished Professor of Business Law Jill E. Fisch, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and signed by investors and associated organizations representing more than $5 trillion in assets under management including the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, Illinois StateTreasurer Michael W. Frerichs, Connecticut State Treasurer Denise L. Nappier, Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read, and the U.N. Principles for Responsible Investment.

Directors’ Liability And Climate Risk: Canada-Country Paper, Janis P. Sarra, Cynthia Williams

Cynthia A. Williams

The Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI) is examining the legal basis for directors and trustees to take account of physical climate change risk and societal responses to climate change, under prevailing statutory and common (judge-made) laws. These are the first comprehensive legal assessments of the discharge of directors’ duties in the climate context for four Commonwealth common law countries: Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. These have been complemented by conferences in Australia (August 2016), Canada (October 2017), South Africa (January 2018) and the UK (June 2016).

The national legal papers follow a uniform structure and can …

Comment Letter To The Sec In Response To Its Concept Release On Business And Financial Disclosure Required By Regulation S-K, 81 F.R. 23915, Cynthia Williams

Cynthia A. Williams

The Center for International Environmental Law, Center of Concern, Environmental Investigation Agency-US, Foundation Earth, Friends of the Earth-United States, Greenpeace USA, Rainforest Action Network, and the Sierra Club welcome the opportunity to comment on the recent Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) concept release on “Business and Financial Disclosure Required by Regulation S-K” (“Concept Release”).1In this Comment Letter, we address five issues:(1) the growth of socially-responsible investment (SRI)(Concept Release questions 15, 17); (2) the definition of materiality (question6); (3) the materiality of sustainability information (questions216-23); and (4) the limits of voluntary disclosure initiatives to meet the information needs of today’s investors, …

Text Of Remarks On Panel: Codes Of Conduct And Transparency, Cynthia Williams

Cynthia A. Williams

No abstract provided.