Climate Accountability on boards

The board should take responsibility for ensuring the company’s long-term resilience to climate risks.

The board is ultimately accountable to shareholders for the long-term stewardship of the company. Accordingly, the board should be accountable for the company’s long-term resilience with respect to potential shifts in the business landscape that may result from climate change. Failure to do so may constitute a breach of directors’ duties.

Guiding questions

  • Do your board directors consider the risks and opportunities associated with climate change to be an integral part of their accountability for the long-term stewardship of the organisation?
  • To what extent are climate risks and opportunities incorporated into your board’s understanding of directors’ duties?
  • Do your board directors undertake decisions informed by the best available information on climate risks and opportunities?

< Back to WEF Climate governance principles


FEATURED RESOURCE

 

Chair’s guide to climate action

Deloitte, in association with the World Economic Forum and Climate Governance Initiative has designed guides to reveal key insights from chairs leading climate action, consider how key stakeholder groups are responding to a climate driven future and help chairs understand the decarbonization roadmap.

Resources

[Source: to see more background on this principle and further guiding question, see the World Economic Forum Guide: How to Set up Effective Climate Governance on Corporate Boards: Guiding principles and questions, p11-12]

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