Author: Professor Bryce Tingle KC

The controversy over corporate purpose is one of the oldest in corporate law. At its core, the debate is about whether corporate decisions should have as their ultimate end maximizing shareholder wealth or whether some of them can be made with the ultimate end of benefitting some other constituency. This paper looks at whether demands by ESG activists are compatible with the corporate fiduciary duty and the legal duties of institutional investment managers.

This paper is part of a collection presented at LESA’s Corporate/Commercial Refresher: Transactions and Litigation program in Lake Louise from May 2–5, 2024.