Current Status of Global Climate Litigation

Current Status of Global Climate Litigation

Curated sources covering global caseloads and trends, government-targeting litigation, corporate climate cases, and recent procedural developments through May 2026. Caseload figures differ by reporting date: UNEP counts cases as of June 30, 2025, while the Grantham snapshot covers 2025 filings and developments through May 2026.

Global caseload and trends

Authoritative global reviews and legal research commentary on cumulative case counts, jurisdictions, litigation patterns, and the developing legal duties of governments and corporations.

unep.org10 Sep 2025
UN Environment
This report due to launch on 18 September 2025, which updates previous United Nations Environment Programme re...
lse.ac.uk24 Jun 2026
Courts are engaging with systemic polluter pays cases (seeking damages from companies for contributing to glob...
columbia.edu3 Oct 2025
Maria Antonia Tigre and Margaret Barry
Major developments for global climate litigation: the Human Rights Council recognizes the right to a h...

Government-targeting litigation

Global and specialist updates on advisory opinions, domestic climate-duty cases, standing, stays, preemption, implementation, and other procedural developments involving governments.

columbia.edu
columbia.edu
This month’s updates focus on new developments in U.S. litigation, but you can view recent updates in cases fr...

Corporation-targeting litigation

Sources covering fossil-fuel municipal and state claims, corporate climate-washing, polluter-pays and corporate-framework cases, shareholder actions, and emerging liability theories.

columbia.edu
The Greenpeace organizations were found to be liable for defamation, trespass, nuisance, conspiracy, and torti...
iigcc.org15 Jul 2026
Jane Murray
ENI and the New Zealand Supreme Court's Smith v. Fonterra. No claim has yet produced a final, upheld dama...

Primary and case-law reading

Direct legal materials and case repositories useful for verifying current courtroom posture, opinions, and dockets. The California fuel-industry case is especially relevant to corporate climate litigation.

justia.com
The court held that Citgo’s direct involvement in the distribution and sale of branded gasoline in California,...
justia.com
justia.com
FCC v. AT&T Docket Number: 25-406 Court: US Supreme Court Date: June 4, 2026 · https://supreme.justia.com/...
uscourts.gov18 Aug 2026
court_opinionPDF
CourtListener opinion | Court: D.C. Cir. | Filed: 2026-08-18 | Status: Published | Docket: 25-5387 | CourtList...
justia.com
justia.com
Federal cases filed in U.S. District Courts and U.S. Courts of Appeals