Disclosure of Information Concerning Climate Change: Liability Risks and Opportunities

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 Chair in Business Law, Osgoode Hall Law School, considers the Canadian legal framework for corporate disclosures and reporting of climate risk, current disclosure practices of companies and expectations of investors, and the liability risks to companies for misleading disclosures relating to climate change. These papers formed the basis of Directors\u27 Liability and Climate Risk: Canada - Country Paper, published in April 2018 as part of the series of national reports which were the first comprehensive legal assessments of the discharge of directors’ duties in the climate context