The Widening Scope of Directors Duties: The Increasing Impact of Corporate Environmental Responsibility

First, the paper will consider the imminent global consequences of climate change and the implications for businesses, economies, and societies. In this context of clear and present global risk, the transformation to new paradigms of directors’ duties is examined. This includes an examination of the consequences for directors’ roles in combating climate change by mitigation and adaptation and the building of sustainable enterprises. The paper then considers the multiplicity of international initiatives for greater corporate social and environmental responsibility, the business and civil society agencies pressing for sustainable business development, and the market indices, which now measure corporate performance in sustainability and inform investors. Finally, the changing landscape of fiduciary duty is highlighted with new boundaries for risk, strategy, and investment.