Corporations and Climate Change

Climate change has become a major issue in contemporary corporate governance.

This Roundtable discussion will consider:

- Whether company directors have a duty to consider climate change in making decisions and the possible liability risks for directors

- The practical mechanisms by which directors can address climate change problems

- The efficacy of corporate governance techniques, such as disclosure and stewardship codes, in promoting environmental sustainability.

This session will take place on Zoom.

Speakers

Noel Hutley, Barrister, New South Wales Bar Association & the Australian Bar Association

Noel Hutley is a senior commercial law barrister. He is a graduate of the University of Sydney and the University of Cambridge. He was appointed as a Senior Counsel in NSW in 1996 and Queen’s Counsel in WA in 1997. He is a former President, New South Wales Bar Association and the Australian Bar Association.

Megan Flynn, Executive Director, Pollination

Megan has been at the forefront of corporate sustainability strategy, climate law, carbon markets, and sustainability consumer trends for over 15 years. She formerly led sustainability at the Qantas Group, growing its commercial carbon offset program to be the largest of any airline in the world and negotiating on behalf of the aviation industry under its United Nations governing body. Prior to this, she was an Associate in the Global Environmental Markets team at Baker McKenzie. She is Chair of Earthwatch Institute, and a Non-executive Director of Carbon Markets Institute, Sustainability Victoria and Melbourne University’s Sustainable Society Institute. She is a Research Partner of Harvard University’s Sustainability Transparency Accountability Research (STAR) Lab and a graduate of the Harvard Social Leadership Program.

Dr Ernest Lim, Associate Professor, National University of Singapore

Ernest Lim is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. He has published widely on comparative corporate law and governance, including two major monographs, Sustainability and Corporate Mechanisms in Asia (Cambridge University Press 2020) and A Case for Shareholders' Fiduciary Duties in Common Law Asia (Cambridge University Press 2019). Prior to becoming an academic, he practised corporate and securities law in the New York and Hong Kong offices of Davis Polk & Wardwell. He obtained his doctorate from Oxford.

Rebecca McGrath, Chairman, Oz Minerals

Rebecca is an experienced professional company director and Chairman. Prior to her non-executive career Rebecca spent 24 years in the oil industry both in Australia and overseas. Her last executive position was Chief Financial Officer and a member of BP’s Executive Management Board for Australia and New Zealand. Rebecca is a former Director of Big Sky Credit Union and in addition to her Bachelor and Master Degrees, Rebecca is a graduate of the Cambridge University Business and Environment program.

Ms McGrath is currently Non-Executive Director of Investa Commercial Property Fund Holdings. She is a member of the Advisory Council at JP Morgan Australia, and a Council member of the Victorian Division of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Moderator: Professor Jennifer Hill, Bob Baxt AO Chair, Monash Law & Director of CLARS

Professor Jennifer Hill is the inaugural Bob Baxt AO Professor of Corporate and Commercial Law at Monash University Faculty of Law and is the Director of the Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies (CLARS). Jennifer is an internationally recognised legal scholar in the field of comparative corporate law and governance.

Jennifer is a graduate of the University of Sydney (BA LLB (Hons) and the University of Oxford (BCL). She is a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) and has held visiting teaching and research positions at leading international institutions, including the University of Cambridge; Cornell University; Duke University; NYU Law School; University of Virginia, University of Texas, and Vanderbilt University Law School.