Issue - June 30, 2026

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, June 30, and this week’s ESG Litigation Weekly covers a French court order requiring TotalEnergies to address Scope 3 emissions in its vigilance plan, California’s proposed three-month deferral of the first corporate emissions reporting deadline under SB 253, UK advertising rulings against Adidas, Calvin Klein, and Uniqlo over misleading environmental claims, and more.

French Court Orders TotalEnergies to Add Scope 3 to Vigilance Plan
The Paris Judicial Court ordered TotalEnergies to supplement its vigilance plan within six months of service by including Scope 3 emissions in its risk mapping and related measures. The court held that climate risks fall within France’s Duty of Vigilance Law and that emissions generated from the use of the company’s oil and gas products fall within the scope of its activities because of the link between production and combustion of those products. It declined to impose specific emissions or production targets and stayed the remaining claims pending the revised plan. The case will return on January 21, 2027. TotalEnergies said it would update the plan and assess next steps.
🔗 Read more → Paris Judicial Court (Press Release), Notre Affaire à Tous (Press Release, Court Judgment), TotalEnergies (Press Release)

Workday Must Face Claims Over Algorithm-Based Applicant Screening
A California federal judge largely denied Workday’s motion to dismiss claims alleging its algorithm-based applicant screening tools discriminate based on race, age, and disability. The court held that plaintiffs plausibly alleged a sufficient California nexus under the Fair Employment and Housing Act because the screening tools were designed, developed, maintained, and operated from the company’s California headquarters. It also allowed Jill Hughes’s disability claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act to proceed based on allegations that the tools use health-related proxy indicators. The court dismissed FaithLinh Rowe’s newly asserted race claim and direct employer claims concerning Workday’s own hiring practices.
🔗 Read more → CourtListener (Court Order, Case Docket)

U.S. Supreme Court Sides With Monsanto in Roundup Failure-to-Warn Case
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that federal pesticide law preempts John Durnell’s Missouri failure-to-warn claim against Monsanto. Durnell alleged that long-term Roundup use caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma and that the product should have carried a cancer warning. The majority held that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) approval of Roundup labels without such a warning imposed federal labeling requirements, while Durnell’s claim would require an additional or different state-law warning. The Court reversed the Missouri appellate judgment and remanded the case.
🔗 Read more → U.S. Supreme Court (Court Opinion, Case Docket), Bayer (News Release)

D.C. Circuit Upholds Stricter Federal Soot Standard
A federal appeals court denied challenges by industry groups and states to EPA’s 2024 rule lowering the annual national air-quality standard for fine particulate matter from 12 to 9 micrograms per cubic meter. The court also rejected EPA’s subsequent request to vacate the rule. It held that the Clean Air Act permits off-cycle revisions without another comprehensive five-year review and bars consideration of compliance costs when setting health-based standards. The court found the revised limit reasonably supported by newer scientific evidence and the unanimous recommendation of EPA’s scientific advisory committee.
🔗 Read more → U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (Court Opinion), EPA (Final Reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter)

EU General Court Annuls Business-Aircraft Manufacturing Exclusion from Green Taxonomy
The EU General Court upheld Dassault Aviation’s challenge and annulled the exclusion of aircraft intended for private or commercial business aviation from transitional activities under the EU Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act. The court found that the European Commission made a manifest assessment error by treating other transport modes as necessarily low-carbon alternatives and relying on CO₂ emissions per passenger-kilometer, a measure tied to aircraft operation rather than manufacturing. It also found that the Commission had not adequately considered business aircraft’s ability to use sustainable aviation fuels.
🔗 Read more → Court of Justice of the EU (Press Release), EUR-Lex (Court Judgment)

Australians File UN Human Rights Communication Over Fossil-Fuel Exports
Ten Australians filed a communication with the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee alleging that Australia violates their rights by failing to regulate coal and gas production for export. They argue that emissions from exported fossil fuels materially contribute to climate change and have intensified bushfires, floods, extreme heat, and algal blooms affecting their lives, homes, health and, for Aboriginal claimants, their culture. The filing invokes rights to life, privacy, family and home, and culture. It seeks declarations of violations and recommendations for an export review, a rapid phaseout plan, an end to subsidies, and a pause on new approvals.
🔗 Read more → Earthjustice (Communication to the UN Human Rights Committee, Press Release)

California Proposes Deferring First Corporate Emissions Reports
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) plans to move the first reporting deadline under SB 253 from August 10 to November 10, 2026, while making limited clarifying changes to its initial regulation. CARB withdrew the regulatory package from state review and will release the revisions for a 15-day public comment period before resubmitting it. The program covers U.S.-based companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue that do business in California. Initial disclosures will cover Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, with Scope 3 reporting beginning in 2027. The three-month deferral remains subject to the rulemaking process.
🔗 Read more → CARB (Notice)

EU Council Backs New Categories for Sustainable Financial Products
The Council of the EU agreed its negotiating position on a proposed overhaul of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The mandate would replace the current de facto Article 8 and 9 labels with three product categories: sustainable, transition, and ESG basics, each generally requiring at least 70% of investments to support the stated strategy. It also proposes minimum adverse-impact indicators for sustainable and transition products, conditional inclusion of some fossil-fuel companies in the transition category, and an opt-out for alternative investment funds offered only to professional investors. Talks can begin once Parliament adopts its position.
🔗 Read more → Council of the EU (Press Release, Negotiating Mandate)

EBA Publishes Final Draft ESG Pillar 3 Disclosure Standards
The European Banking Authority (EBA) published final draft standards revising Pillar 3 disclosures under the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR 3). The standards would implement CRR 3’s extension of ESG-risk disclosures to all EU banking institutions on a proportionate basis while reducing required data points by 37% for large institutions and introducing simplified templates for smaller institutions. They remove Green Asset Ratio and other EU Taxonomy-alignment templates from the Pillar 3 framework to reduce duplication, while retaining disclosures on climate risks, fossil-fuel exposures, and ESG risk management. The package also adds requirements concerning equity and aggregate shadow-banking exposures. The standards require European Commission adoption and are expected to apply from the December 31, 2026 reference date for most institutions, with small and non-complex institutions following from December 31, 2027.
🔗 Read more → EBA (Press Release, Final Report on Draft ITS)

EFRAG Updates Digital Resources Mapping for SME Sustainability Reporting
EFRAG released second-edition mappings of digital tools, platforms, and initiatives supporting voluntary sustainability reporting by SMEs. The reports cover 58 tools and 108 platforms or initiatives, including GHG calculators, climate-risk tools, and reporting systems. EFRAG shortlisted 11 tools for comparative analysis and 25 platforms based on usage or public-sector criteria. Fourteen shortlisted platforms completed a Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for SMEs (VSME) alignment self-assessment, with most reporting partial alignment. EFRAG cautioned that it did not verify the submitted information or assess the tools’ quality or compliance, and that inclusion does not constitute endorsement.
🔗 Read more → EFRAG (Digital Tools Mapping, Digital Platforms and Initiatives Mapping)

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ASA Rules Adidas, Calvin Klein, and Uniqlo Ads Misleading
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that paid-for Google ads by Adidas, Calvin Klein, and Uniqlo made misleading environmental claims about recycled or responsibly sourced products. The regulator found that, without qualification, claims such as “Recycled Running Shoes,” “Recycled Materials,” and “Responsibly sourced collections – Recycled, Organic & More” would likely be understood to mean the advertised products were made entirely from those materials. The companies’ evidence showed only partial or varying use of recycled, organic, or other certified materials. The ads must not appear again in the forms reviewed, and future claims must clearly explain their basis and be adequately substantiated.
🔗 Read more → UK ASA (Rulings: Adidas, Calvin Klein, Uniqlo)

Climate Litigation Matures as Pushback and Complexity Grow
A new global review identifies 249 climate cases filed in 2025, bringing the total since 1986 to more than 3,600 across 62 countries. The report finds that climate litigation is becoming an established part of global climate governance, with courts increasingly treating state climate action as a legal duty. Corporate cases are expanding across multiple sectors, while climate-washing remains the most common category involving companies. The authors also highlight coordinated opposition to climate litigation, growing disputes over transition trade-offs, and continuing challenges in translating favorable judgments into policy change.
🔗 Read more → LSE Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment “Global trends in climate change litigation: 2026 snapshot” (Full Report, Summary Report)

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