6 April ARELJ Article- Activist Shareholders and Climate Change: Australian Developments April 6, 2023 By Sally Parker ARELJ, Environment, General, Resources and Energy ARELJ, ClimateChange, Activism, ESG 0 Dr Tim Bowley BA (Juris), LLB (Hons), LLM, PhD. Member, Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies, Faculty of Law, Monash University Shareholders are increasingly focused on how companies are addressing material environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. In practice, a significant amount of this activism focuses on a particular “E” issue: climate change. This article describes and explores climate change-related shareholder activism in relation to Australian publicly-traded companies. It reveals how this activism is undertaken by a variety of shareholder types who draw from a range of activist tactics. It also shows how this activism is becoming increasingly sophisticated and, in particular, is moving beyond attempts to highlight companies’ contribution to climate change to focus on holding companies and their management accountable for perceived inaction on climate change. Climate-related shareholder activism is underpinned by significant financial, regulatory and international factors and its significance is therefore unlikely to be short-lived. However, the article reveals that tensions are emerging that may disrupt climate-related shareholder activism’s momentum and make its ultimate trajectory uncertain. Member Login Required to Access Article Read More Related Articles ARELJ Article- Market Substitution, Climate Change and Coal Royalty Revenue in Queensland and NSW: Filling the Void ARELJ Article- Golden Pig: The continuing effects of Forrest on the Western Australian Mining Industry Climate change action is being driven by business and industry While everyone’s focus in recent months has been on the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change was top of everyone’s mind when the year began with bushfires ravaging Australia. The pandemic has seen individuals and organisations assess their ideologies and perspectives on a range of topics, climate change being one of them. It now seems that climate change is back on everyone’s agenda and none more so than business and industry. ARELJ - Case Note - Australian Offshore Petroleum Regulation: Defining and Protecting the National Interest ARELJ Article- Decommissioning Liabilities - For whom the bell tolls? ARELJ Comment- Investment Treaty Claims by Australian Resource and Energy Companies Showing 0 Comment Comments are closed.