Issue - July 14, 2026

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, July 14, and this week’s ESG Litigation Weekly covers a Washington court’s decision allowing most claims in a heat-dome wrongful death case against major oil companies to proceed, South Korea’s roadmap for mandatory sustainability disclosures, court rulings against KLM and Lufthansa over sustainable aviation fuel marketing, and more.

Washington Court Allows Most Heat-Dome Wrongful Death Claims to Proceed
A King County Superior Court judge denied joint motions to dismiss brought by ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Shell, Phillips 66, TransMontaigne, and related entities in a wrongful death suit tied to Juliana Leon’s death during the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome. The court allowed product liability and public nuisance claims based on alleged deceptive marketing and failure to warn to proceed, found jurisdiction over the jointly moving out-of-state defendants, and denied a motion to strike. It also found causation sufficiently pleaded while noting proof may be difficult. The ConocoPhillips defendants were dismissed without prejudice, while the claims against Olympic Pipe Line Company were dismissed.
🔗 Read more → Center for Climate Integrity (Press Release and Court Orders)

Ugandan Farmers File UK Case Seeking to Halt EACOP Pipeline
Four Ugandan farmers filed a High Court claim in England and Wales against EACOP Ltd, the UK-registered company developing the 1,443-kilometer East African Crude Oil Pipeline from Uganda to Tanzania. They allege that the project breaches Ugandan constitutional, environmental, and climate protections, including the right to a clean and healthy environment. Filed before oil begins flowing, the case seeks an injunction preventing pipeline operations, compensation, and other relief. According to Avaaz, the case is believed to be the first attempt to apply Ugandan climate and environmental law in a foreign court. EACOP is majority-owned by TotalEnergies.
🔗 Read more → Avaaz (Press Release), Reuters

New York Sues 3M, DuPont, and Others Over PFAS Pollution
New York Attorney General Letitia James sued 3M, EIDP, Chemours, Corteva, and DuPont in Albany County Supreme Court over alleged PFAS pollution linked to consumer products. The complaint alleges the companies knew certain PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, were toxic, persistent, and bioaccumulative, but continued manufacturing, marketing, and selling them for use in consumer products including fabric treatments, food packaging, cookware, and cosmetics while concealing risks and misleading consumers. New York asserts public nuisance, failure-to-warn, consumer protection, false advertising, and fraud claims. It seeks statewide cleanup funding, product warnings, damages, restitution, disgorgement, and civil penalties.
🔗 Read more → New York Attorney General (Press Release, Court Filing)

UK High Court Rejects Most Defeat-Device Allegations in Diesel Test Case
The UK High Court rejected most of the principal allegations examined in the first liability trial involving claims brought by around 1.6 million diesel car owners. Examining sample vehicles from Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Peugeot-Citroën, and Renault-Nissan, the court held that a defeat device must detect one or more parameters of a regulatory test and intentionally cause the emissions-control system to operate more effectively during testing than in out-of-test driving. Reduced effectiveness outside test conditions alone was insufficient. The court nevertheless made adverse findings on certain Mercedes and Peugeot-Citroën strategies and held that the statutory scheme creates a private right of action. A further trial on consequences and remedies is scheduled for October 2026.
🔗 Read more → UK Judiciary (Press Summary, Court Judgment)

Bali Residents Seek Climate and Land-Use Reforms After Deadly Floods
Ten Bali residents filed a citizen lawsuit in Denpasar District Court against 14 central and local government bodies and officeholders, including Indonesia’s president, over the September 2025 floods in Denpasar and surrounding districts. The plaintiffs allege that long-standing failures in land-use planning, drainage, waste management, disaster preparedness, and climate policy worsened the flooding, which they say killed 18 people and affected more than 6,000 households. They claim violations of constitutional rights to a healthy environment, security, and disaster protection. Requested relief includes climate and land-use reforms, environmental reviews, and a moratorium on permits for environmentally harmful projects, including new fossil fuel infrastructure.
🔗 Read more → 350.org (Press Release), LBH Bali (Press Release)

South Korea Finalizes Sustainability Disclosure Roadmap
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission announced a final roadmap for mandatory sustainability disclosures by KOSPI-listed companies. Subject to legislation, reporting would begin in 2028 for fiscal 2027 for companies with at least KRW 10 trillion in consolidated assets. The threshold would fall to KRW 5 trillion in 2029, with a possible reduction to KRW 2 trillion from 2030 after review. Disclosures would form part of statutory business reports. Third-party verification would become mandatory in 2030, while Scope 3 reporting would begin three years after each cohort enters the regime. Initial three-year exemptions from certain damages and sanctions would not cover intentional greenwashing.
🔗 Read more → Financial Services Commission (Press Release), Korea Accounting Standards Board (Roadmap)

Canadian Taxonomy Council Opens Sustainable Finance Consultation
The Canadian Taxonomy and Transition Planning Council opened public consultation on a draft methodology for Canada’s voluntary sustainable finance taxonomy, with comments due August 13, 2026. The framework would classify climate-aligned economic activities under green, transition, or abatement categories, using criteria anchored in the Paris Agreement and Canada’s net-zero-by-2050 target. Its first phase focuses on climate mitigation and proposes environmental and social safeguards. Technical criteria will be developed for electricity, buildings, transportation, mining, manufacturing, and agriculture and forestry. Draft criteria for the first three sectors are expected by the end of 2026, with all six scheduled by the end of 2027.
🔗 Read more → Business Future Pathways (Consultation Announcement, Draft Methodology Report)

ESMA Publishes Initial List of ESG Ratings Providers Entering EU Regime
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an initial list of ESG rating providers that notified it of their intention to continue operating in the EU under the new ESG Ratings Regulation. As of July 9, the list included 24 providers, including EU entities of MSCI, Sustainable Fitch, Sustainalytics, S&P Global, EcoVadis, GRESB, and others. Notification allows providers to continue operating temporarily while ESMA processes the applicable authorization, recognition, or temporary-regime registration. It does not constitute regulatory approval. Small providers seeking the three-year temporary regime must notify ESMA by November 2, 2026. Providers other than small providers intending to continue operating must notify ESMA by August 2 and submit authorization or recognition applications by November 2, 2026.
🔗 Read more → ESMA (Provider List, Public Statement), EUR-Lex (ESG Ratings Regulation)

Germany Passes Law Easing Renewable Heating Requirements
Germany’s Bundesrat approved the Building Modernization Act after its passage by the Bundestag, clearing the legislation to take effect following promulgation. The law removes the uniform requirement for new heating systems to use at least 65% renewable energy, allowing owners to continue installing gas and oil systems alongside heat pumps, district heating, hybrid systems, and biomass. Fuels used for heating must be climate-neutral from 2045. Gas and oil will face progressively increasing bio-content requirements from 2029, while details of a separate green-gas quota are due in later legislation. The law also revises building renovation subsidies and requires an evaluation of its contribution to building-sector climate targets in 2030.
🔗 Read more → German Federal Government (News Release), German Bundestag (Legislative Summary)

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Danish Court Fines KLM DKK 3 Million Over Misleading SAF Claims
Copenhagen City Court fined KLM DKK 3 million for misleading environmental marketing in a 2023 radio and Spotify campaign. The advertisements stated that KLM was taking “a big step” toward more sustainable travel and that more sustainable aviation fuel was included in all tickets. At the time, KLM added 1% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) through the fuel system at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The court found that the campaign overstated the scale and significance of the measure and could give the average consumer a misleading impression of the climate benefits of flying with KLM.
🔗 Read more → Danish Consumer Ombudsman (Press Release)

German Appeals Court Upholds Ban on Lufthansa SAF Claim
The Cologne Higher Regional Court rejected Lufthansa’s appeal on the central issue and upheld a ruling barring a specific SAF claim. Lufthansa had told customers they could reduce their flight-related carbon emissions directly during booking through the use of SAF. According to Deutsche Umwelthilfe, the court found the statement misleading because the SAF was added to Lufthansa’s fuel supply later and was not used on the customer’s booked flight, and held that the timing was material to consumers assessing the environmental benefit of the paid option. Lufthansa changed the wording during the proceedings.
🔗 Read more → Deutsche Umwelthilfe (Press Release), Handelsblatt

Courts Test the Limits of Corporate Scope 3 Accountability
According to an LSE Grantham Research Institute commentary, courts are increasingly recognizing that companies may bear responsibility for emissions generated across their value chains, but converting that principle into enforceable reduction duties remains difficult. Drawing on research into 12 cases, the authors discuss the recent French ruling requiring TotalEnergies to address downstream emissions in its vigilance plan and the pending Dutch Supreme Court case on whether Shell can be ordered to make specific emissions reductions. They identify a broader shift toward scrutiny of transition plans, production decisions, financing, and marketing, while also arguing that inconsistent Scope 3 disclosure makes causation and foreseeability harder to prove and contributes to uncertainty over specific reduction orders.
🔗 Read more → LSE Grantham Research Institute (Commentary)

Catch up on previous editions → ESGLitigation.com

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