"Sharp rise in number of climate lawsuits against companies, report says," 27 June 2024

The number of climate lawsuits filed against companies around the world is rising swiftly, a report has found, and a majority of cases that have concluded have been successful.

About 230 climate-aligned lawsuits have been filed against corporations and trade associations since 2015, two-thirds of which have been initiated since 2020, according to the analysis published on Thursday by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

One of the most rapidly growing forms of litigation is over “climate-washing”... and the analysis found that 47 such cases were filed against companies and governments in 2023.

As climate communications are increasingly scrutinised, there has been arise in climate-washing litigation, often with positive outcomes for those bringing the cases...

The US accounted for the vast majority of litigation cases filed in 2023, with 129 cases. The UK was second, with 24 cases, while 10 were filed in Brazil.

...55 countries have now recorded climate cases, with a growing number of litigation cases arising in the global south, which accounts for about 8% of all cases...

“Climate litigation … has become an undeniably significant trend in how stakeholders are seeking to advance climate action and accountability,” said Andy Raine, the head of international environment law at Unep...