The failure of financial institutions, such as banks and insurance companies, have generated a large number of cases which have established principles concerning the duties
The failure of financial institutions, such as banks and insurance companies, have generated a large number of cases which have established principles concerning the duties of directors. ' In Australia, there has been a hardening in approaches to dealing with breaches of duties by directors.2 The debate regarding the obligations of board members in companies has broadened from a narrow focus on shareholder value to a wider range of issues, particularly in regard to publicly listed companies.3 In recent years, there have been increasing calls from stakeholders for directors to not only have regard to the interests of the company in making decisions, but to have consideration of wider public interests. Amongst other things, this has included considerations of corporate activities on the climate. For example, the Australian Stock Exchange Corporate Governance Principles notes that listed entities should disclose whether they have any material exposure to environmental or social risks and, if so, they should disclose how they manage or intend to manage those risks. In 2018, Mark Mcveigh sued his superannuateon fund, Rest, alleging it had failed to provide him with information on how it was managing climate change risks. Rest settled out of court, and in November 2020 it released a statement where it said it would 'take further steps to ensure that investment managers take active steps to consider, measure and manage financial risks posed by climate change' and that it agreed to 'continue to develop its management processes for dealing with the financial risks of climate change on behalf of its members'. Unfortunately, because the case settled out of court, there were no clear judicial pronouncements relating to the obligations of company directors regarding climate risk. For early examples, see, eg. Overend, Gurney & Co v Gibb (1872) LR 5 HL 480; In re City Equitable Fire Insurance Company Limited [ 19251 Ch 407. See, eg, Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Friedrich (1991) 5 ACSR 115; Permanent Building Society (in lia) v Wheeler (1994) 11 WAR 187; Daniels v Anderson (1995) 37 NSWLR 438, Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Vines [2005] NSWSC 738; Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Healey (2011) 196 FCR 291. See, eg, Justice Geoffrey Nettle, 'The Changing Position and Duties of Company Directors' (2018) 41(3) Melbourne University Law Review 1402; Michael J Whincon and Mary E Keyes, 'Corporation, Contract, Community: An Analysis of Governance in the Privatization of Public Enterprise and the Publicisation of Private Corporate Law' (1997) 25(1) Federal Law Review 51. ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations (at February 2019) 27-8. 5 Michael Slezak, 'Rest Super Fund Commits to Net-Zero Emission Investments after Brisbane Man Sues', ABC News (Web Page, 3 November 2020) . Rest, 'Rest Reaches Settlement with Mark Mcveigh' News and Media Releases (Web Page, 2 November 2020) . Consider and discuss the historical evolution of s 180 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and discuss the degree to which there are both public and private obligations that arise from a breach of directors' duties of care and diligence. The main part of your paper should be focused on addressing the following question: to what extent should directors turn their minds to climate change risks as part of their duty of care
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