On August 31, 2023, the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), as part of their broader Climate Law and Finance Initiative, published two reports analyzing legal and contractual regimes governing decommissioning of offshore oil and gas infrastructure projects and identifying decommissioning-related risks […]
Climate Finance
21 posts
This piece previously appeared in the CLS Blue Sky Blog. The Securities and Exchange Commission regulations on climate disclosure, first proposed in March 2022 and likely to be issued in final form in October 2023,[1] have drawn considerable controversy and face an uncertain fate in the inevitable litigation.[2] Much less attention has […]
On July 21, 2023, the Sabin Center launched its latest report, Modelling Climate Litigation Risk for (Re)Insurers. This report, which forms part of the Sabin Center’s broader Climate Law and Finance Initiative, provides a toolkit to help academics, attorneys, insurance practitioners, and industry regulators model (re)insurer climate litigation risk. Insurance […]
In September 2015, then Bank of England Governor Mark Carney gave a landmark speech on the “Tragedy of the Horizon.” The concept was simple: climate change creates tremendous risk for financial markets, but these mounting risks are ignored by investors due to the market’s tendency towards myopia. The speech marked […]
2023 is a significant year for corporate climate disclosure rules: regulators around the world are issuing or strengthening their disclosure requirements for registered companies pertaining to sustainability and climate-related financial risk. In Europe, the European Commission plans to finalize initial reporting standards for corporate sustainability reporting by June. UK regulators […]
On February 9, 2023, ClientEarth filed a derivative action against the Board of Directors of Shell at the High Court of Justice in England and Wales (ClientEarth v. Shell’s Board of Directors). The lawsuit alleges that the Board has failed to manage material and foreseeable climate risks, therefore breaching UK […]
The federal Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a final rule on Tuesday, November 22, allowing plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) characteristics when they choose investments and exercise shareholder rights, reversing a Trump-era rule that sought to constrain this type of risk […]
Over 150 business climate collaborations have arisen in recent years as the private sector has begun to grapple with its role in combatting climate change. The functions of these associations range from establishing shared net zero targets to developing frameworks for carbon accounting. As these groups have proliferated, they […]