The Net is Tightening #2. Climate litigation increases. A material risk for companies? Climate litigation has increased exponentially in the past decade, with claims against companies and governments reaching levels which should no longer only concern lawyers and defendants. Considering the grounds for such claims are challenging the economic and environmental grounds upon which our system is built upon, climate litigation is expected to exert considerable pressure for demanding more and better Climate action. We look into: - Climate litigation as a source of pressure for climate action. - Materiality of climate litigation for corporations. - The role of attribution science, for helping allocate specific damages. On Thursday, 28 February 2019 we discussed the potentiality of climate litigation of becoming a corporate material risk. Find out how we do it, by watching the replay: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/9dgwluix right. based on science #ClimateChangeLiability

1. webinar | right. based on science | 28 February 2019 | 4pm CET
Climate litigation increases. A material risk for companies?
The Net Is Tightening 2

2. Founded in 2016 in Frankfurt (GER) by Hannah
Helmke and Dr. Sebastian Müller
Data Provider and Consultancy
Mission: Increase transparency on climate-related
risks and opportunities within the market
Team comprising 10 people with diverse professional
backgrounds
Listed on #100 Watchlist 2019 by Business Punk
Next milestone: XDC Model (code) open source
right. based on science

3. 2°C:
- Coral reefs die
- Alpine glaciers disappear
- The Arctic Summer Lake Ice Disappears
> 6°C:
- Irreversible damages in the Amazonian Rainforest
- Collapse of the Gulf Stream
- Defrosting of permafrost soils
- Thawing of Arctic winter lake ice
> 8°C:
Hypercanes
Source: Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim, Stefan Rahmstorf, and Ricarda Winkelmann. "Why the
right climate target was agreed in Paris." Nature Climate Change 6.7 (2016): 649.
> 2°C:
-Regular serious heat waves in Southern Europe
-Up to 50% lower water availability in South Africa and
Mediterranean regions
-Himalayan glaciers disappearing increasingly, ¼ of Chinese
population affected

4. 4
Regulation & Legislation
The Net is Tightening

5. Liability
The Net
Liability
Regulation & Legislation
Existing Upcoming
Litigation
Mitigation Adaptation
Disclosure

6. Regulation EU Directive
Non-Financial
Disclosure
Insurance
Sup. Act
Solvency II IORP-II
Directive
Shareholders'
rights directive
(SRD II)
French Energy
Transition Law
Term "Environmental
Impact"
"ecological
matter"
"Sustainability" "ecological factors" "non financial
performance"
"Carbon Budgets
and low carbon
strategy"
To observe /
To report
„principal risks" "detailed and
meaningful
information"
"Security, quality,
liquidity and
profitability of the
portfolio"
"Under the principle
of corporate
prudence (...) take
into account"
"Monitor
companies
to invest in"
"Impact assessment
of credit and
investment
portfolios with the
2 °C target"
Direct climate risk disclosure
Legislation

7. Thorough
understanding of
the process behind
the generation of
impact
Disclosure of
measures intended
to incorporate or
respond to climate
change
Alignment of
business model´s
with the Paris
Climate Agreement
Disclosure of
impact and
exposure to
climate as a risk
factor
What are these laws asking for?
Legislation

8. 8
Litigation
The Net is Tightening

9. Mitigation
Litigation

10. Milieudefensie v. Shell

11. “…Shell must align its corporate
activities and investment decisions with
global climate targets…”

12. Ferrão Carvalho and Others v.
EU Parliament and Council

13. “... Ten families from all over the world,
including children, brought an action in the
EU General Court seeking to compel the EU
to take more stringent greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions reductions”

14. Adaptation
Litigation

15. Commonwealth Bank (AU)

16. “... The Bank has failed to disclose the risks it
faces regarding climate change, in a clear
violation of the Corporations Act of 2001”

17. Camp Fire victims & Insurance Companies
vs. PG&E

18. “... PG&E has argued that it should not be held strictly
liable for these fires when climate change is
increasingly exacerbating fire risk. Although utility
equipment may spark fires, extremely warm and dry
conditions play a role in amplifying the destruction.”

19. PEABODY COAL

20. “I believe that full and fair disclosures by
Peabody and other fossil fuel companies will
lead investors to think long and hard about
the damage these companies are doing to
our planet.” Attorney General Schneiderman

21. I’d say yes, we can expect to see cities and
counties trying to get compensation from fossil
fuel companies, but that would be alongside
other efforts to obtain compensation
Sean Hecht, co-executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate
Change and the Environment at UCLA Law School
“
„

22. Materiality
22
The Net is Tightening

23. Technical Expert Group
Disclosure
TCFD Recomendations
Governance
Strategy
Risk Management
Metrics & Targets
CSR Directive
Business
Model
Concepts and
Due Diligence
Ergebnisse der
Konzepte
Material Risks Key
Performance
Indicators

24. webinar | right. based on science | 13 June 2019 | 3pm CET
Materiality threshold? A legal hypothesis.
2°C Target

25. webinar | right. based on science | 8 April 2019 | 5pm CET

26. One of my key research topics is Sustainable Finance. With few
methodologies available for developing science-based, future-orientated
climate metrics, which are relevant in practical and theoretical terms, I
welcome the possibility of using the XDC model for my research by means
of right.open.
Prof. Dr. Timo Busch
Chair of Management and Sustainability and part of the excellence cluster “Climate, Climatic
Change, and Society (CliCCS)”, University Hamburg
“
„

27. right. based on science UG
Intzestraße 1
60314 Frankfurt am Main
www.right-basedonscience.de
www.xdegreecompatible.de
Dr. Sebastian Müller, LL.M. | Policy, Law and Litigation
s.mueller@right-basedonscience.de
Marcela Scarpellini, LL.M. | Policy, Law and Litigation
m.scarpellini@right-basedonscience.de

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