Legal efforts by a not-for-profit to become the first to demonstrate how board executives have failed in their directors’ duties over climate change are set to fail, according to a corporate governance expert. Last month environmental campaign group ClientEarth began the process of seeking permission to bring litigation against Shell, claiming the energy giant’s board members had failed in their section 172 duties by failing to “properly prepare” for transition to net zero. “Shell is seriously exposed to the physical and transitional risks of climate change, yet its climate plan is fundamentally flawed,” said Paul Benson, a lawyer with ClientEarth. But a University of East Anglia academic argues that ClientEarth will likel