ESG Intermediaries and Corporate Sustainability Convergence

Responses to climate change and other environmental and social sustainability issues implicate two fundamental debates in corporate law. The first concerns the appropriate role and scope of regulation in shaping corporate purpose. The second, closely intertwined with the first, pertains to corporate convergence—namely, the extent to which corporate governance practices should or will align globally. Divergent approaches to sustainable finance regulation across jurisdictions highlight tensions between regulatory harmonization and persistent national differences. The broad, far-reaching, and sometimes controversial implications of sustainability issues for business can only be understood by addressing the corporate purpose and corporate convergence debates in relation to each other.