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The Canada Climate Law Initiative examines the legal basis for corporate directors, officers and pension fiduciaries to consider, manage, and report on climate-related financial risks and opportunities, advancing knowledge on effective climate governance practice and exploring the scope and limits of fiduciary obligation in respect of climate change.

Who we are

The Canada Climate Law Initiative is a cross-disciplinary research initiative, with principal investigators Dr. Janis Sarra and Dr. Carol Liao, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia and Professor Cynthia Williams, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University.  Professors Sarra and Williams are also the Canadian principal investigators for the global Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (Oxford University, UK).

Current initiatives

Our goal is to develop strategies to encourage meaningful governance action by directors and other fiduciaries in the transition to a low-carbon economy. Our focus is on working with lawyers, economists, scholars, directors, pension trustees, asset managers and other institutional investors to move Canada towards a sustainable low carbon economy.  Our strategies will involve a concentrated focus on knowledge mobilization, stakeholder engagement and policy development. Our work fits hand in glove with the  efforts of the Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance.

In June 2020 we launched the Canada Climate Law Initiative Knowledge Mobilization and Policy Hub, housed at the Centre for Business Law, University of British Columbia (UBC) and working in cooperation with York University. This phase of CCLI is a three-year comprehensive cross-disciplinary program that will build on the strengths of our research and knowledge sharing on effective climate governance, scale up work with corporate and pension boards,  support further research on fiduciary obligation and the duties of care and prudence, hold timely and relevant webinars to advance climate governance, and will meet with federal and provincial policymakers and regulators to advance policy that will help Canada’s economy transition to net zero emissions. The new Hub will work to create a coordinated strategy among organizations working in climate governance, providing the needed legal expertise within this space.

CCLI’s flagship initiative is the Canadian Climate Governance Experts program, offering pro bono sessions on effective corporate governance to address climate-related financial risks and opportunities to corporate boards of directors and Canadian pension fund boards. Our 55 Experts include lawyers, accountants, economists, capital markets experts, company executives, sustainable finance experts and governance experts. They are committed to giving boards the most helpful facts regarding how the current state of climate science relates to their sector, and the duties of directors, officers and pension fiduciaries in Canada. Contact us to book a session with one of our experts.

Our history

As Canadian partner and full participants in the global Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (Oxford), in 2017 /2018 we:

• conducted research and wrote reports
• conducted expert meetings in Toronto and Calgary with industry and legal specialists
• organized major conferences in Vancouver and Toronto on director and officer obligations and climate change financial risk
• and participated in both Canadian and international fora on how best to transition to a lower carbon economy given current legal obligations under corporate, securities, financial and environmental law

With research support from the Ivey Foundation, the University of British Columbia and York University, we:

• examined the legal basis for corporate directors in Canada to be required to take account of, disclose, and manage climate change risks under prevailing statutory and common laws
• assessed the materiality of these considerations, in terms of liability exposure and the potential implications for company and investor decision-making in the real economy
• examined the legal basis for pension trustees, pension investment managers and other pension fiduciaries in Canada to take account of, disclose, and manage climate change risks under prevailing statutory and common law

In 2019, we made a major submission to the Canadian Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance, titled Time to Act.  A number of our suggestions were included in its final report in June 2019, Final Report of the Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance – Mobilizing Finance for Sustainable Growth. We conducted meetings with corporate governance and finance experts, institutional investors and companies across Canada in May and June 2019 in a candid exchange regarding the best thinking on effective climate governance.