BIO:
Professor Richardson joined the UBC Faculty of Law in January 2011, and holds the Senior (tier 1) Canada Research Chair in Environmental Law & Sustainability. Previously, he was a Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University (2003-10) and earlier was a Senior Lecturer at the law faculties of the University of Manchester and University of Auckland. Prior to working in academia, Professor Richardson was a policy advisor to the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service in Australia, and a legal consultant to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) in Nepal and Kenya. He completed his undergraduate studies in law and political science with honours at Macquarie University and his PhD at the Australian National University. Professor Richardson’s principal research area is socially responsible investment and its regulation, as a means of promoting environmentally sustainable development. His scholarship also includes Aboriginal peoples and the environment, and climate change law. His recent publications include the books Climate Law and Developing Countries (Edward Elgar, 2009), Indigenous Peoples and the Law (Hart Publishing, 2009), Socially Responsible Investment Law (Oxford University Press, 2008), and Environmental Law for Sustainability (Hart Publishing, 2006). Among his professional responsibilities, Professor Richardson is an elected member of the Governing Board of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, and co-chairs the SRI Research Cluster of the Canadian Business Ethics Research Network.
INTERESTS:
Financial markets can only be sustainable, in the long-term, if they also take responsibility for the social and environmental consequences of the economic activities they finance. We must cease to attribute the social and environmental problems of capitalism merely to the “front-line” companies that most visibly exploit, consume and pollute. Their financial sponsors must also shoulder some of the responsibility to achieve environmentally sustainable development. To some people, the movement for socially responsible investment, which has grown rapidly in years, heralds a more enlightened and responsible financial sector. However, the prevalence of fungible standards and cheap talk in the SRI movement suggests more public policy and regulatory oversight is necessary to achieve the potential of SRI.
E-mail: brichardson@osgoode.yorku.ca
