We examine the association between mandated Asset Retirement Obligations (ARO), i.e., environmental clean-up costs of normal operations estimated on the balance sheet, and the quality of voluntary ESG disclosures. We hypothesize that when firms recognize larger AROs with higher accuracy that...

In the past few decades in the developed world and more recently in India, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has been viewed as a promising alternative to traditional waste management policy. In most cases it is impractical and infeasible for firms to manage their own EPR operations due to...

To deal with externalities associated with electricity generation, under the Polluter Pays Principles (PPP), companies can be made to pay the compliance costs and then pass these costs incurred on to the end-users by charging a higher price per kWh of electricity used. However, there is a need...

In spite of the resolutions of Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP7), policy practitioners in many countries are currently obligated to react to perceived domestic environmental damages. Like few other sectors, utilities, especially, coal-based electricity generation is often identified...

How can the global shipping industry play its part in the fight to stop climate damage? Shipping accounts for around 90% of all international trade, and for 2.5% to 4% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, which damage the Earth’s climate. The shipping industry is also heavily concentrated....

The rule of Strict Liability laid down in Rylands vs Fletcher more than a century ago, has almost stood the test of time, with certain exceptions being introduced to it. The rule has somewhat merged into the principle of Negligence. But the Indian Supreme Court took the opportunity to lay down...

Modern energy and natural resource development has always been, at heart, a global enterprise. Energy companies and developers, by necessity, frequently work in far-flung locations scattered among nations with vastly different legal systems and environmental regulatory systems. If one of their...

This paper investigates how the exposure of secured lenders to their debtors' environmental liability affects employment, production and pollution. Using a US federal reform as a novel natural experiment, I show that firms increase on-site pollution, cut investment in abatement technology and...

The transition to a sustainable Circular Economy (CE) requires moving away from linear production processes and the throwaway mentality. Waste needs to be prevented and the consumption of new products must decline. In particular, this involves extending product lifetime (through maintenance and...

This chapter analyses recent developments in tort law, namely in the English tort of negligence, which point towards increased liability of parent companies for damage caused by their subsidiaries. In particular, it discusses the relevance of CSR and environmental self-regulation and best...

Private equity (PE) ownership leads to a 70% and 50% reduction in the baseline rates of two distinct measures of toxic pollution. Novel satellite imaging and administrative datasets from the oil and gas industry allow us to identify the reduction by comparing projects from PE-backed firms to...

This paper develops a model showing how the environmental liability regime and the precision of the disclosed environmental performance indicator (EPI) affect managers' incentives (1) to reduce actual pollution and (2) to manipulate the EPI. I assume a company with a separation of ownership and...

Under the international agreements on climate change, states have a responsibility to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions. We may refer to this as an “obligation to regulate”. This article argues that the general, treaty-derived obligation to regulate is supplemented by a separate legal...

This paper develops a model showing how the environmental liability regime and the precision of the disclosed environmental performance indicator affect managers’ incentives (1) to reduce actual pollution and (2) to manipulate the reported pollution. I assume a company with a separation of...

We evaluate the impact of the 2008 Apex Oil court decision that made the creditors of some corporations financially liable for the environmental damages caused by specific pollutants. Apex reduced the circumstances under which environmental liabilities were dischargeable in Chapter 11, which...

"Durch die Menschen ist die Erde voller Gewalttat." So sprach ER und beschloss. "Nun will ich sie zugleich mit der Erde verderben." -- Zur profitgetriebenen Verwüstung unseres Planeten als Preis für fragwürdigen Fortschritt. Ein (fiktives) Interview mit Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels und Papst...

Along with the development of the maritime industry, the Vietnam’s Sea is facing marine pollution caused by oil discharge from ships. The cases of insufficient and unsatisfactory compensation for pollution damage caused by ship’s oil are increasing. Therefore, this paper focused on the...

An environmental policy has been created which requires the polluter to bear the costs and responsibility of the pollution and the externalities that are proximate in cause of the pollution. This is the Polluter Pays Principle. In a purely free market one only faces their private costs; however...

We investigate the capital structure implications of corporate environmental liabilities, which are captured using the amount of firms' toxic production-related waste. We document that firms with higher environmental liabilities maintain lower financial leverage ratios, suggesting that...

This article discusses whether parent companies can, and, in light of opportunities for regulatory evasion and developments in corporate group liability, should be held liable under the ELD for environmental damage caused by their subsidiaries. Depending on the facts, a parent company could...

This paper discusses some assumptions applied to justify lender liability for environmental damage. In the paper's first part views are discussed as to who, the lender or the borrower, can be regarded as the cheapest cost avoider in light of the cost-benefit analysis of environmental liability....