This summer has proven how destructive climate change can be.
With an overall vision of how business law has an impact on both society and on other legal areas, the Professorship in Business Law serves as a liaison between the Faculty of Law and leading practitioners, in Montreal, in Canada and internationally.
Given the central role of business organizations and commerce in today’s world, McGill Law is committed to strengthening teaching, research and outreach in business law.
The McGill Business Law Platform, which the Professorship in Business Law has just launched, will become a hub of excellence in business law on par with McGill Law's other areas of recognized strengths such as human rights, comparative law and public policy.
Key parts of the McGill Business Law Platform are the Seminars in Business and Society, the McGill Business Meter Blog, and the McGill Transformative Business Law Academy.
On June 1st the Academy presented its 2023 Impact Paper, "Sustainable Transformation of Business and Finance: A Democratic Challenge in an Age of Climate Change and Artificial Intelligence". The paper provides policy recommendations that show a path for business law and finance to better account for climate justice, meaningful transparency, and algorithm accountability in the digital age.
We thank all the faculty, fellows, and distinguished guests who have made the 2023 Transformative Business Law Summer Academy possible. A complete list is available here:
The latest in the Business Law Meter
30 Aug 2023
21 Jul 2023
Albeit at different paces, multiple jurisdictions across the world are moving from voluntary to mandatory disclosures about sustainability and climate risks. This post maps out this movement in the EU, the US, and Canada, and looks into other legal avenues to achieve corporate ESG engagement.
21 Jul 2023
Amidst record heat waves and forest fires throughout Western Europe, the European Commission has updated its Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). SFDR aims to crack down on greenwashing in financial markets and influence sustainable investment decisions—but is it following through on its goals, or just becoming a disguise for business as usual?
18 Jul 2023
The city of Amsterdam is a pioneer in sustainable economic transition, attempting as first city worldwide to implement a circular economy until 2050. This initiative must be applauded, while the difficult implementation illustrates the challenges that excellent ideas face when they are confronted with reality.
18 Jul 2023
The case of Lliuya v RWE is the first climate compensatory claim worldwide that has reached the stage of hearing evidence. Are such horizontal climate lawsuits an effective tool to hold European corporations accountable for their historical contributions to global warming? And what are the main legal hurdles for horizontal climate lawsuits when brought before courts in the EU? Finally, is there a risk of too much judicial activism associated with the growing number of such lawsuits?
17 Jul 2023
On May 30th, 2023, Anne Campbell, a second-year student at McGill Faculty of Law, had the chance to sit down with Marc Barbeau to discuss the importance of business law and sustainability. Barbeau is an Adjunct Professor in Corporate Finance at McGill Law, and he is currently Air Canada’s Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. Prior to his tenure at Air Canada, Barbeau was Chair of Stikeman Elliott LLP.
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