The Sustainable Companies Project commenced in 2010 and has involved a team of more than 40 legal scholars mapping the law in 26 jurisdictions across the globe. This document summarises the company law analysis based on that mapping and on further extensive research into the barriers and possibilities company law provides for sustainable companies, conducted by the head of the project, Professor Beate Sjåfjell, together with Professors Andrew Johnston and David Millon, and research assistant Linn Anker-Sørensen. Our focus, like that of the project, is on the environmental dimension of sustainability, with climate change as our case in point. 1
‘Business as usual’ is a very certain path towards a very uncertain future. On the ‘business as usual’ trajectory, the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), epitomizing the overarching goals of global society, is unlikely. A fundamental transition away from ‘business as usual’ and onto a sustainable path is necessary. However, the SDGs themselves do not seem informed by a recognition of a potential conflict between indefinite economic growth and planetary boundaries. This article posits that this is symptomatic of our economic system, and turns to the dominant business form – the corporation – to discuss its significance as a barrier to and potential as a driver for sustainability. Drawing on multi‐jurisdictional, comparative research, the article presents a reform proposal, challenging the shareholder‐primacy drive, and ending on a positive note with the potential of corporate contribution to systemic change.
The world faces a complex convergence of social and ecological crises: climate change, biodiversity loss, resource scarcity, human rights violations, rising inequality and societal instability. The United Nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for ‘the future of humanity and of our planet’, calling on business to contribute to solving these pressing challenges. Yet business in aggregate is a driver of the current convergence of crises and the discussion of how to promote sustainable business is therefore high up also on the agenda of the European Union (EU). The EU increasingly shows recognition of the need for regulatory initiatives to promote the integration of sustainability into European business, resonating with the EU’s high-level commitment to sustainability. This article is a contribution to the discourse on how to regulate European business so that it contributes to a sustainable future for all, including for European business itself. The article briefly outlines the basis in the EU treaties for reform of EU company law and the risks of continued unsustainability, moving on to the argument for including company law in the legislative toolbox, and outlining ideas for how such a reform could be shaped.
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