View in Browser

Sign up for Reuters newsletters

By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello!

It’s all about the sharp rise in legal climate cases this week with worldwide “climate washing” litigation cases reaching 2,341 as frustration mounts over spurious corporate claims.

“Climate washing” litigation has risen sharply in the last two years as environmental groups and governments challenge corporate claims about their contribution to tackling climate change, a report published on Thursday showed.

The report, compiled by London’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, defines ‘climate washing’ cases as those that challenge misinformation or misleading green claims.

In the last year, 26 climate washing cases were filed globally against companies, down slightly from 27 in 2021, but up sharply from the previous two years, the institute said in its annual report on climate litigation trends.

Climate activists hold banner with the slogan “No climate justice without fiscal and social justice”, Place de la Republique, in Paris, France, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

Lawyers, working on behalf of activists and others frustrated with progress in lowering greenhouse gas emissions, have filed 2,341 climate litigation cases worldwide, half of them since 2015. The majority of cases have been filed in the United States.

Climate lawsuits are often targeted at the biggest polluters.

Environmental groups said on Thursday they were demanding an immediate halt to the ongoing development of three Norwegian offshore oilfields, seeking a court injunction against the government.

Greenpeace and Nature and Youth said they had asked the Oslo District Court to put on hold Equinor’s Breidablikk and Aker BP’s Yggdrasil and Tyrving fields, arguing the government had failed to assess their climate impact.

Last week, an Oregon county sued major oil and coal companies, and industry groups, seeking over $50 billion to counter harms caused by extreme weather fuelled by climate change.

Last month, ClientEarth, an environmental law charity turned activist Shell investor, said it was challenging a London court decision to dismiss its lawsuit against the energy giant’s board over alleged climate risk mismanagement.

The group said it would ask the High Court to reconsider the decision at an oral hearing about the case – the first notable investor lawsuit against directors over the alleged failure to properly prepare for a shift from fossil fuels.

The cities of Paris and New York last year joined a coalition of associations and local authorities suing French multinational TotalEnergies for failing to fight climate change adequately, litigation the oil major said it regretted.

While the range of cases is broad, a paper by the London School of Economics’ Grantham Research Institute, found a causal link between litigation and stock prices, with a filing or unfavorable court ruling reducing a firm’s value by an average 0.41%, relative to expected values.

But it’s not just major oil firms that face climate lawsuits. Regulators and governments face courtroom pressure too.

Earlier this year, citizens affected by climate change sued the governments of more than 30 European countries in three separate cases before the European Court of Human Rights, alleging that state inaction has violated their human rights.

In February, an environmental charity alleged that Britain’s markets watchdog acted unlawfully when approving documents that allowed an oil and gas firm to list in London even though it had failed to properly describe climate-related risks.

Reuters journalist Tom Lasseter and Elon Osby embrace in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., June 6, 2023. Lasseter’s ancestors enslaved Osby’s forebears. REUTERS/Alyssa 

David Greene, committee member of the London Solicitors Litigation Association (LSLA), is representing a woman from Surrey, Great Britain, who has filed an appeal at the Supreme Court over a local oil drilling permit in her area on climate change grounds:

“If the appeal is successful the impact could be significant, not just for fossil fuel projects, but also a wide range of projects which may contribute to global warming.   

“This appeal is centered around the nature of Environmental Impact Assessments and the requirements of planning authorities to recognise the emissions consequence of granting planning permission for fossil fuel and other projects – not just from the construction project itself, but also, in the longer term, use of the land for the purposes of the project and its contribution to emissions contributing to global warming. 

“There are a growing number of such cases here and in other jurisdictions. Their challenges will only increase as the law is tested. They often turn on obligations arising from the Paris Agreement – which has been litigated here unsuccessfully thus far – or from human rights and the right to life.

“These are testing, as in the instant case, new principles and new law. A question for the future will be the willingness of the judiciary to develop the law positively on climate change issues.

“Businesses are becoming more and more aware of their obligations and the potential to find themselves at the wrong end of an action.

“Fossil fuel and the extractive industries face a barrage of litigation that is likely to increase. In addition, directors themselves have faced litigation in relation to the decisions they make on behalf of companies.”

Breakingviews:  A jumbo hydropower listing may define how investors assess extreme weather risks. Romania’s Hidroelectrica, valued at around 10 billion euros ($10.9 bln) at the top end of a proposed price range, enjoys high margins, a healthy balance sheet and annual dividends exceeding 90% of net income. Yet as droughts in Europe become more frequent, water scarcity may prove a headache.

German hops farmer hopes for second income from solar panels in his fields video. Reuters/Production: Ayhan Uyanik, Louisa Off, Stephan Schepers

Today’s spotlight focuses on a German hops farmer who hopes to double his income this year via harvesting hops and solar power. Meanwhile, a port in Long Beach, California, U.S., has plans to become the world’s first zero-emissions facility.

Hops farmer Josef Wimmer can hope for a double harvest this year: on his fields near Au in der Hallertau in southern Germany’s Bavaria region, he wants to harvest solar power as well as hops.

Wimmer is taking part in a pilot project to cover 3.2 acres with solar panels. The ‘photovoltaic system’ could supply electricity to up to 250 households each year, while the hops benefit from the shade the panels provide.

“It was definitely a challenge but for the future of my business and to be prepared for the future, especially during times of climate change and a lack of rainfall, I see it as a second source of income,” he said.

 Safeguarding jobs powers California port’s green shift video. Reuters/Ilan Rubens 

Elsewhere, unions hope that a $30 million grant to electrify tractors in a Long Beach, California, port terminal will lead to a final push to become the world’s first zero-emissions facility, and will serve as a bulwark against job losses in an era of energy transition and increasing automation. 

The terminal recently secured a $30 million grant from the Biden administration to electrify its tractors. But the money comes with conditions: to safeguard jobs, the new equipment must be operated by humans.

“We have reduced our emissions by 90% with a goal, with our net zero plan by 2030 to be the first truly net zero container terminal in the world,” said  Long Beach Container Terminal – LBCT, CEO Anthony Otto. He says that the terminal’s commitment to the union is that “while there was some erosion of some typical longshore jobs, there would be creation of new jobs.”

“The oil and gas sector’s failure to address emissions from its products and operations hampers international efforts to limit global warming to 1.5C. It is deeply concerning that no companies have made a commitment to halt the expansion of fossil fuel activities before 2030.”

Vicky Sins, World Benchmarking Alliance’s decarbonisation and energy transformation lead

Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content.

Sustainable Switch is sent three times a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here.

Want to stop receiving this newsletter? Unsubscribe here.
To manage which newsletters you’re signed up for, click here.

Reuters Terms & Conditions and Privacy Statement