This paper evaluates company law and regulation using Earth system science (ESS) as an analytical lens. ESS draws attention to the disconnection of companies from the Earth system and the way that law, as a process of the anthroposphere, is impacted and evolving in response to Earth system disruption. It argues that, although there has been some reform that is consistent with regulating companies to address their climate and other environmental impacts, the reactive and piecemeal approach to legislative reform so far adopted is unable to change commercial behaviour sufficiently in practice. Additionally, although the courts have been asked to adjudicate, the core principles of company law create barriers to such interventions. The paper concludes with four suggested areas of reform: to directors’ duties; substantive obligations of due diligence; training, education and expertise; and accountability and enforcement. It is argued that these reforms are necessary to reduce the company’s environmental and social impacts, to aid the transition to a sustainable economy and to position them to operate in a future marked by planetary instability.
