The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu The leading online blog in the fields of corporate governance and financial regulation. Sat, 06 Jun 2026 11:30:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cropped-photography-4-e1706898544564-1-32x32.png Carbon, Caremark, and Corporate Governance – The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu 32 32 Carbon, Caremark, and Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2021/05/30/carbon-caremark-and-corporate-governance/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=carbon-caremark-and-corporate-governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2021/05/30/carbon-caremark-and-corporate-governance/#comments Sun, 30 May 2021 15:35:16 +0000 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/?p=138371?d=20210601091815EDT Posted by William Savitt, Sabastian V. Niles, and Sarah K. Eddy, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, on Sunday, May 30, 2021
Editor's Note:

William Savitt, Sabastian V. Niles, and Sarah K. Eddy are partners at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. This post is based on their Wachtell memorandum.

Developments this week highlight the urgent imperative for boards and management teams to address climate-related challenges as part of their regular risk assessment practices:

  • A Dutch court held Royal Dutch Shell partially responsible for global warming and ordered the company to reduce its carbon emissions.
  • Engine No. 1, an activist investor laser-focused on climate change, won at least two seats on ExxonMobil’s 12-person board in a proxy fight.
  • Likewise bucking management’s recommendation, Chevron stockholders approved an investor-backed resolution calling for cuts in carbon emissions, focusing on the challenging area of “Scope 3” emissions.

These developments come on the heels of a federal executive order and related statement from the Secretary of the Treasury announcing that “financial regulators, financial institutions and investors need to have the best information and data to measure climate related financial risk” and declaring a policy to “act to mitigate [climate] risk and its drivers” (emphasis added) and support “science-based [carbon] reduction targets.”

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