"Towards Sustainable Companies: Identifying New Avenues" Conference in Oslo, Norway, Features Strong Denver Law Contingent

Denver Law Professor Celia Taylor, Adjunct Professor Anita Halvorssen, and Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy LLM Graduate Diego Parravicini will chair panels at an upcoming conference at University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, on August 29-30, 2011.

"Towards Sustainable Companies: Identifying New Avenues" is an international conference bringing together researchers from all over the world to discuss these important issues. How can we find new and fruitful avenues to make companies and thereby our economies sustainable?

“Business as usual is arguably unsustainable," the three DU-affiliated individuals said. "We urgently need to alter the direction of our businesses towards a balance between achieving profit and contributing to social development within the non-negotiable ecological boundaries of our planet. Climate change is the case in point for the Sustainable Companies project. The project is dedicated to the development and refinement of efficient tools to realize the significant potential within companies to make independent, creative and active contributions to mitigate climate change."

The panels that the three will chair are:

• "Case Studies on Human Rights and Environmental Law," Dr. Halvorssen
• "Corporate Governance, Shareholder Primacy, and Fiduciary Duties," Professor Taylor
• "Corporate Social Responsibility, Codes, Accounting and Reporting," Mr. Parravicini

The Sustainable Companies Project at the University of Oslo Faculty of Law invites scholars from different branches of academia, practitioners and decision-makers from business and government to participate in a high-level discussion of these questions, in a multi-jurisdictional and cross-disciplinary context.

Professor Celia Taylor, who teaches about "Securities Regulation," "Business Law," and "Corporations and Corporate Governance," Adjunct Professor Anita Halvorssen, who teaches "Sustainable Development" and "Trade and Global Climate Change Law and Policy," and Diego Parravicini, a 2009 LLM graduate and now an attorney with the Buenos Aires-based firm of Beccar Varela, are members of the Sustainable Companies Project hosting the conference.

Individuals interested in registering for the conference should click here.

Sturm College of Law Professor Celia Taylor, Adjunct Professor Anita Halvorssen, and LLM Graduate Diego Parravicini Join Sustainability Effort

Three individuals with University of Denver Sturm College of Law ties have been asked to participate in Sustainable Companies, an Oslo, Norway-based effort aimed at studying how to better integrate environmental protection in the decision-making process in companies with the aim of contributing to sustainable economic development.

Professor Celia Taylor, who teaches about Securities Regulation, Business Law, and Corporations and Corporate Governance, Adjunct Professor Anita Halvorssen, who teaches the Law of Sustainable Development and Trade and Global Climate Change Law and Policy, and Diego Parravicini, a 2009 LLM graduate of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Graduate Program and now an attorney with the Buenos Aires-based firm of Beccar Varela, have been asked to join a global group of experts examining the key issues.

The research effort, which is being co-ordinated by the University of Oslo Faculty of Law, began in January 2010. According to the project's organizers the aim of the undertaking is as follows:

Taking companies’ substantial contributions to climate change as a given fact, companies have to be addressed more effectively when designing strategies to mitigate climate change. A fundamental assumption is that traditional external regulation of companies, e.g. through environmental law, is not sufficient. Our hypothesis is that environmental sustainability in the operation of companies cannot be effectively achieved unless the objective is properly integrated into company law and thereby into the internal workings of the company.

The Norwegian Research Council has provided vital financing for the project, which will run through December 2012.

Lucy Daberkow, Associate Administrative Director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Graduate Program, said, "It is very impressive for the Sturm College of Law to have three participants in this important study. Professor Taylor, Dr. Halvorssen, and Mr. Parravicini will contribute excellent perspectives, from the United States and Argentina respectively, to this global study that aims to learn more about integrating environmental considerations into the heart of business decision-making."