Chasing down the climate change footprint of the private and public sectors: Forces converge

Abstract

This article analyses four converging forces which are requiring the private and public sectors to radically address their climate change footprints. These forces include: an emerging body of "climate law" which aims to achieve deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions; an increasing tendency, observable in both the United States and Australia, to bring public and private law climate change actions before courts and administrative tribunals; corporate governance obligations which arguably include duties to effectively manage the climate change risk profile of corporations; and voluntary, or self-regulation, mechanisms such as corporate social responsibility (CSR). Part II of this article, to be published in the December issue of this journal, will analyse and review the various emissions trading schemes around the world. It is argued that these forces are placing an ever stringent net of responsibility around the activities of the private and public sectors, in an effort to correct what Sir Nicholas Stern has referred to as "the greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen."