The legal advice,which was commissioned by the Centre for Policy Development (CPD) and the Future Business Council,said directors not thinking about climate change risks today could be found liable for breaching their duty of care in the future.
"While matters such as this will,in the end,be determined by a court,we think the Hutley opinion is relatively unremarkable,"Mr Price said in a speech to a CPD event in Sydney.
"We say that in the sense that,in our view,the opinion appears legally sound and is reflective of our understanding of the position under the prevailing case law in Australia in so far as directors’ duties are concerned."
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The legal advice of Mr Hutley said it would likely be"only a matter of time"until a director personally faced litigation over their statutory duty of care relating to climate change.
AICD general manager advocacy Louise Petschler said:"The AICD promoted the Hutley opinion to widely to our members,noting there is little downside,and much potential upside,for directors in properly considering and disclosing climate risks.
"As the opinion itself stresses,the relevance of climate change risks to a specific company will be assessed on a case-by-case basis,and any allegation of a breach of duty in avoiding ‘foreseeable risk’ would be determined on its individual merits. The opinion is,necessarily,general,"she said.