of issue that companies in every industry must be aware of: how is our specific industry likely to be affected by different scenarios that are today being discussed in order for Canada to meet its commitments under Paris? Q: What does this mean for Canadian public companies and their Boards, officers and directors? What questions should officers and directors of Canadian construction companies be asking themselves in light of the increasing risks? What does this mean for Canadian privately owned companies? A: To begin, all companies need to incorporate the potential for climate change litigation risk into their short- and long-term risk strategy. They need to consider questions such as: •  Are officers and directors meeting their fiduciary obliga- tions to consider climate change in their strategy development? •  Are the trustees of institutional investors meeting their fiduciary obligations to consider climate change in their portfolio construc- tion and in their voting decisions at companies? •  Are companies meeting their disclosure obligations today under existing frameworks in Canada? CCLI organized conferences last year to discuss these various topics, and the statements of Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) regulators were clear: companies now have obligations to disclose material risks from climate change on their business. In order to disclose information, companies need to evaluate how they are positioned, both with respect to physical changes but also to the Pan-Canadian Framework and regulations coming into effect to put a price on carbon; and •  What are leading Canadian companies doing to transition to a low-carbon economy? Q: What are you doing to increase the visibility of the risks associated with climate change litigation? A: As the Canadian co-lead of the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI), together with Professor Janis Sarra of the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia, we have organized two conferences and published three white papers to bring attention to the general legal risks to corporations and their officers and directors from climate change and from failing to consider climate change in strategy IN MY OPINION development and disclosure. Those papers are available at https://ccli.ouce.ox.ac.uk/ publications/. Through the CCLI, we’re now working to provide input to the federal Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance. We’re also working with CPA-Canada, and through CPA-Canada with the Institute for Corporate Directors, to raise the visibility of this issue with directors in all industries. We have done general analyses of fidu- ciary and disclosure obligations; we are now starting case studies of what leaders and laggards are doing in various specific industries. So far, as we have heard from experts, officers and directors in Canada are not asking questions about climate change insurance cover for their own potential liability for failing to meet their fiduciary obligations to evaluate the risks from climate change and the effects of regulatory developments to address climate change. There seems to be a view that climate change litigation, which is exploding elsewhere, won’t come here. But the reality is that corporations and their officers and directors need to act now to be prepared for the potential eventuality of litiga- tion, or suffer the consequences later of an increasingly activist society and shareholder base. THERE IS INTEREST ACROSS CANADA IN HOW THE FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS ARE WRESTLING WITH ALIGNING THEIR OWN SPECIFIC INTERESTS AND ACTIVITIES AS THEY WORK TO REDUCE THEIR CARBON FOOTPRINT. 26 UNDERGROUNDER Fall 2018