Tough for Singapore shareholders to sue directors over climate risk: NTU study

SHAREHOLDERS in Singapore might find it difficult to mount a legal challenge against directors who fail to adequately address climate-related risks, according to a report by Nanyang Business School.

That is because the Singapore courts have generally been reluctant to interfere with business decisions, even though the laws that lay out directors’ duties to act in companies’ best interests could include taking climate risks into account, according to the report.

There are “considerable doctrinal and practical difficulties in private enforcement of directors’ duties with regards to climate change”, the report stated.