In a recent ASIC liaison meeting, a number of corporate governance items were flagged as being a current focus of ASIC. Of particular interest is the emerging focus on climate change risk management by directors and implications for directors’ duties.
The opinion ‘Climate change and directors’ duties’ published by the Centre for Policy Development in October 2016 (download here) promoted wide spread discussion about the implications of climate change risk for directors. It argues that Australian company directors who fail to consider such risks now could be found liable for breaching their duty of care and diligence under section 180 of the Corporations Act in the future.