Oregon Law Review : Vol. 88, No. 2 (2009)

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Oregon Law Review : Vol. 88 No. 2, p.581-620 : Implementing Corporate Climate Change Responsibility: Possible State Legislative and SEC Responses to Climate Change Through Corporate Law Reform
(University of Oregon Law School, 2009) Torbitt, Alison
In Part I, this Comment explores a recent corporate perspective termed climate change responsibility, which examines the connection between corporations and climate change, and the litigation risks faced by businesses that choose the responsible alternative. Building on this baseline, this Comment examines two potential state legislative methods to allow for climate change disclosure. First, Part II investigates a strategy of mandatory state corporate law modification requiring detailed greenhouse gas emissions disclosure and mitigation that is unlikely to be passed due to a race to the bottom. Part III then surveys a policy of optional state modification of authorization and constituency provisions, including a successfully passed Oregon model, which implements general support for increased environmental responsibility that, while optional, is more likely to be enacted. Moving to federal law, Part IV looks at the drafting and implementation of guidelines detailing both the scope and form for greenhouse gas emissions disclosures by the SEC to reinterpret the existing disclosure requirements in light of climate change responsibility.