Directors' duties to the company and minority shareholder environmental activism

Abstract

The ideological chasm between environmentalism and a profit driven corporate agenda at times seems insurmountable. Environmental regulation at present is highly reliant upon statutory regulation and governmental intervention whilst corporations law is based to the greatest extent possible on an ideology of non-interventionist, free-market, profit driven capitalism. Despite this, company law remedies, largely unexplored by environmentalists, may provide novel scope to challenge the poor environmental behaviour of directors of corporations. This article examines the possible ways in which standard common law and statutory remedies in company law can be called in aid of the environment.