Corporations have a fundamental duty to protect ecosystem, prevent species' extinction: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday (December 19, 2025) interpreted ‘corporate social responsibility’ or CSR to inherently include environmental responsibility, holding that the legal person of a corporation has a fundamental duty to protect the environment as a key organ of society.

“The corporate duty must evolve from merely protecting the shareholders to protecting the ecosystem that we all inhabit. Therefore, the corporate definition of ‘social responsibility’ must inherently include ‘environmental responsibility’,” a Bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Atul S. Chandurkar held in a judgment.

The judgment was based on petitions highlighting the cause of a near-extinct bird species — the Great Indian Bustard, “one of the heaviest flying birds in the world and a flagship species of the arid and semi-arid grasslands of the Indian subcontinent”, primarily located in and around the Great Thar desert.

Fundamental duty, not charity

In a significant move, the Court brought companies under the ambit of Article 51A(g) of the Constitution, which imposes a fundamental duty on every citizen “to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compassion for living creatures.”

“Companies cannot assert to be socially responsible while ignoring equal claims of the environment and other beings of the ecosystem. A corporation, as a legal person and a key organ of society, shares this fundamental duty,” Justice Narasimha, who authored the judgment, reasoned.

The Court explained that allocation of CSR funds by companies for the protection of the environment cannot be seen as “a voluntary act of charity”, but a fulfilment of a Constitutional obligation.

Shared environment

“The obligation to protect endangered species is paramount. Where corporate activities such as mining, power generation, or infrastructure threaten the habitat of endangered species, the ‘polluter pays’ principle mandates that the company bears the cost of species recovery. CSR funds must, therefore, be directed towards ex-situ and in-situ conservation efforts to prevent extinction,” the Court said.

Non-renewable power generators operating near the habitats of the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) in Rajasthan and Gujarat must always remember that they share the environment with the bird and must undertake their activities as if they were “guests in its abode”, Justice Narasimha said.

Revised priority areas

In a series of directions, the Court upheld an expert committee’s recommendations to revise the priority areas to 14,013 sq. km and 740 sq km for Rajasthan and Gujarat, respectively.

“The measures recommended by the committee for in-situ and ex-situ conservation of GIB within the priority areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat shall be implemented forthwith. Recommendations of the committee with respect to the monitoring of GIB in the revised priority areas shall be given effect immediately. Recommendation of the committee for the conduct of long-term studies on the effects of climate change on GIB must be conducted,” the Court directed in its judgment.

It also accepted the committee’s recommendation to provide a power corridor of up to 5 km width, at a distance of 5 km or more to the south of the southern-most enclosure of the Desert National Park in Rajasthan.