Private high-level meeting on climate liability and litigation at Paris COP21

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.