Issue - July 29, 2025

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, July 29, and this week’s ESG Litigation Weekly looks at the ICJ’s green light for nations to sue each other on climate damage, Italy’s top court clearing a climate case against ENI, Glass Lewis’ free speech suit over Texas’ anti-ESG law, the Trump team’s push to void the EPA endangerment finding, and more.

⚖️ ESG Casefile

Italian Supreme Court Clears Path for Climate Suit Against ENI
Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation has confirmed that national judges may hear climate-related human rights claims, rejecting arguments by ENI and its state shareholders that such cases are non-justiciable. The ruling allows 12 citizens, Greenpeace Italy, and ReCommon to proceed with their lawsuit in Rome seeking compensation for present and future harms they say stem from the oil company’s decades of greenhouse gas emissions. Observers note the precedent will shape all pending and future climate litigation in Italy.
🔗 Read more → Greenpeace

Glass Lewis Challenges Texas Ban on ESG-Based Proxy Advice
Proxy adviser Glass Lewis has filed suit to stop a Texas law that, from September 1, will bar it from recommending shareholder votes based on non-financial factors such as climate or diversity unless backed by a separate financial analysis. The company says the statute violates First Amendment protections and threatens clients with legal risk, while critics argue the measure aims to curb shareholder power. The case is the latest flashpoint in a wider campaign by several Republican-led states to restrict ESG considerations in corporate governance.
🔗 Read more → Financial Times

US Appeals Court Rejects Child Labor Suit Against Cocoa Giants
A District of Columbia Circuit panel unanimously upheld dismissal of a lawsuit in which eight former Malian child laborers tried to hold Hershey, Nestlé, Cargill, Mars, Mondelez, Barry Callebaut, and Olam liable for forced work on Ivorian cocoa farms. The judges said the complaint did not plausibly link the plaintiffs’ trafficking to cocoa sourced by the companies, noting it alleged only regional purchases rather than supply from the specific farms where the abuse occurred. Plaintiffs’ counsel may seek other remedies, but advocates say the ruling shows how opaque supply chains hinder accountability.
🔗 Read more → Reuters

NSW Court Quashes Mount Pleasant Coal Expansion
The New South Wales (NSW) Court of Appeal has set aside the Independent Planning Commission’s approval for Mach Energy’s Mount Pleasant expansion after finding the commission failed to assess carbon pollution from burning the mine’s coal overseas. The ruling, brought by the Denman, Aberdeen, Muswellbrook, and Scone Healthy Environment Group, halts one of the state’s biggest proposed coal projects. The Land and Environment Court must now decide whether new conditions could remedy the oversight or send the proposal back to the planning commission.
🔗 Read more → The Australia Institute

Advocates Sue DOE Over Forced Coal-Plant Extension
Nine public interest groups led by the Sierra Club and Earthjustice have asked the D.C. Circuit to strike down the Department of Energy’s (DOE) May order keeping Michigan’s J.H. Campbell coal plant running past its planned retirement. They say the agency invented an “energy emergency,” ignored state regulators and grid planners, and will saddle Midwesterners with higher bills and more toxic emissions. The petition argues DOE exceeded its authority and bypassed required public input, calling the move an unlawful abuse of emergency powers.
🔗 Read more → Sierra Club

Venue Fight Stalls Challenge to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detention Center
Florida’s emergency management chief told a federal judge that environmentalists filed their lawsuit in the wrong district when they asked to stop construction of a large immigration detention center in the Everglades. The state mentions the facility sits in Collier County within the Middle District, so that the Southern District court lacks jurisdiction. Plaintiffs argue that much of the decision-making occurred in Miami-Dade County and call the venue dispute “judge-shopping” after the case was assigned to a judge who recently held state officials in contempt. A hearing on proper venue is set for July 30, with a decision on the requested injunction deferred until August 6.
🔗 Read more → The Associated Press

🏛️ Regulatory Developments

ICJ Opens Door to Climate Claims Between States
In a landmark advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said countries may sue one another over climate-related harm, including damages tied to historic greenhouse gas emissions. The judges found that failing to adopt the most ambitious possible mitigation plans breaches Paris Agreement promises and that broader international law also obliges non-parties to protect the climate system. Although non-binding, the ruling empowers vulnerable nations to pursue compensation for losses such as extreme weather damage and sea level rise, and it may be cited in domestic courts worldwide. Legal experts call the decision a watershed for climate accountability.
🔗 Read more → BBC

SEC Faces Court Rebuke Over Climate-Disclosure Rules
Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw says the SEC’s status report to the Eighth Circuit sidestepped a direct order to say whether it will enforce its 2024 climate-related disclosure rules if opponents lose their lawsuit. The filing states only that the agency has no plan to revisit the rules, then argues any future action depends on the court’s ruling. Crenshaw calls this “wholly unresponsive,” noting that three of four commissioners have publicly opposed the rules and withdrawn their defense, and warns that rescinding them without formal notice and comment would violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
🔗 Read more → SEC Statement

Trump Team Targets EPA’s Endangerment Finding
The administration is preparing a rule that would revoke the 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health, arguing the Clean Air Act lets but does not require the EPA to regulate them. Drafted by the White House budget office, Justice Department lawyers, and EPA officials, the proposal would undercut current and future limits on power plant, vehicle, and industrial emissions without disputing climate science. Critics say the move ignores the Supreme Court’s direction in Massachusetts v. EPA and will trigger years of litigation just as the ICJ warns nations to act on global warming.
🔗 Read more → Politico

Australia Opens Consultation on Sustainable Investment Labels
The Albanese Labor Government has issued a consultation paper on a new labelling framework for sustainable and green financial products, a core action in its Sustainable Finance Roadmap. Clear labels are meant to help investors compare offerings, reduce greenwashing risk, and steer more capital into projects that support the country’s net-zero ambitions. Treasury is seeking feedback from investors, companies, and the public until August 29 to refine the design principles before drafting rules.
🔗 Read more → Australian Treasury

🧼 Greenwashing Watch

Banks Rebrand as “ESG” Becomes a Toxic Label
Facing political backlash in the US and tighter greenwashing scrutiny in Europe, many banks are dropping the ESG acronym and even the word green, rebadging roles and products with softer terms like sustainability, resilience, adaptation, and water. Analysts suggest the shift aims to avoid partisan attacks while still tapping demand for climate-linked financing, with resilience bonds poised to replace green bonds in some markets.
🔗 Read more → The Banker

💡 Insight of the Week

Five Legal Paths Now Driving Climate Litigation
A new essay outlines how courts worldwide are expanding environmental protection through five approaches: the human right to a healthy environment, intergenerational equity, public trust duties, rights of nature, and the emerging crime of ecocide. From Montana’s youth-led victory to Colombia’s recognition of Amazon ecosystem rights, the piece shows how each theory lets communities or ecosystems seek relief, and how the recent ICJ advisory opinion may accelerate compensation claims.
🔗 Read more → The Conversation

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