ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the widening scope of company directors' duties under the increasing impact of the pressures for corporate social and environmental responsibility. It considers the imminent global consequences of climate change and the implications for businesses, economies and societies. In 1988, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change to provide the world community with the most up-to-date and comprehensive scientific, technical and socioeconomic information about climate change. Of the hundreds of international institutional and policy initiatives around corporate social and environmental responsibility and sustainability, the United Nations Global Compact is the most prominent. There are many market indices that assist investors in making informed investment decisions, and among them are a group of increasingly influential sustainability indices that focus upon corporate, social and environmental performance. The existence of these indices attracts more investors to concentrate their minds on the potential benefits of socially and environmentally responsible investing.
