Issue - March 17, 2026

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, March 17, and this week’s ESG Litigation Weekly covers the Trump administration’s lawsuit against California regulators over the state’s vehicle emissions standards and zero-emission vehicle mandates, EPA’s proposal to revise its 2024 ethylene oxide sterilizer rule, a complaint challenging Mazda New Zealand’s tree-planting claims linked to vehicle emissions, and more.

DOJ and Transportation Department Sue California Over Vehicle Emissions and ZEV Rules
The United States and the U.S. Department of Transportation, acting through the Department of Justice (DOJ) on behalf of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), sued the California Air Resources Board and its executive officer in the Eastern District of California, challenging California’s light-duty vehicle CO₂ standards and zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandates under the Advanced Clean Cars I framework. The complaint argues the rules are preempted by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act because they are “related to” fuel economy standards, which Congress assigned to a uniform national regime. The government seeks declaratory and injunctive relief barring enforcement of the challenged California rules.
🔗 Read more → U.S. DOJ (Press Release, Complaint Filing)

Argentine NGOs Seek Immediate Halt to LNG Megaproject in Golfo San Matías
Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN) and the Argentine Association of Environmental Lawyers filed a preventive environmental action seeking the immediate suspension of construction and all related activity for the Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) Golfo San Matías project led by Southern Energy S.A. The complaint alleges the project advanced without a lawful, comprehensive environmental review, including cumulative and climate impact assessment, and identifies alleged gaps in approvals for key infrastructure. It also cites that in November 2025, a ship unloaded thousands of tons of pipes intended for a gas pipeline to supply the project, and notes site activity was observed near Fuerte Argentino.
🔗 Read more → FARN (Press Release, Complaint Filing; both in Spanish)

Groups Challenge Revocation of Federal Protections for 2.1 Million Acres in Alaska
Ten Alaska and national groups sued the Interior Department in federal court in Anchorage over the revocation of Public Land Orders 5150 and 5180, which had long protected about 2.1 million acres along the Dalton Highway and Trans-Alaska Pipeline corridor. The complaint alleges that the administration acted without the required environmental review, public input, or adequate consultation, thereby opening the area to state selection, mining claims, and other industrial activity. Plaintiffs argue the decision threatens subsistence uses, wildlife habitat, and a key ecological corridor, and violates the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976
(FLPMA), and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
🔗 Read more → Sierra Club’s Press Release, Complaint Filing via Trustees for Alaska

Whitehouse Backs Court Challenge to Trump Exemptions From Hazardous Air Pollutant Limits
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse submitted an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia supporting a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s use of Clean Air Act emergency authority to exempt facilities from the Hazardous Organic National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (HON) rule. The Senate’s news release notes that Trump first exempted 50 facilities in July 2025 and later issued six additional proclamations covering over 180 facilities. Whitehouse’s brief argues the statute allows exemptions only if the required technology is unavailable and the exemption is in the national security interest, and contends those statutory limits are judicially reviewable.
🔗 Read more → U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works (Press Release, Amicus Curiae Brief)

Follow This Threatens Court Action After BP Excludes Climate Proposal From AGM Notice
Climate shareholder group Follow This said it will challenge BP’s decision not to include its climate resolution in the notice for the company’s April 23 Annual General Meeting (AGM). Reuters reported the proposal was filed with investors managing about €1 trillion in assets and asked BP to disclose longer-term strategies for creating shareholder value under scenarios of declining oil and gas demand. BP said its board, after taking legal advice, concluded the resolution did not meet legal requirements and pointed to its existing strategy and climate reporting. Follow This said it would seek injunctive relief if BP does not circulate the resolution.
🔗 Read more → Reuters, Follow This’ Shareholder Resolution

EPA Proposes Revisions to 2024 Ethylene Oxide Sterilizer Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed revisions to its 2024 rule for commercial ethylene oxide sterilizers, a sector used to sterilize roughly half of U.S. medical devices. The proposal would rescind the rule’s risk-based standards and ease several compliance requirements, including lowering the emissions-reduction threshold for certain new aeration room vents from 99.9% to 99.6%, allowing either parametric or continuous emissions monitoring, and removing the permanent total enclosure requirement. EPA said the changes are intended to preserve medical device sterilization capacity while reducing compliance costs. The agency will accept public comments for 45 days after Federal Register publication.
🔗 Read more → EPA (Press Release, Proposed Rule, Fact Sheet)

Chevron Settles Renewable Fuel Standard Case Over Improperly Generated Biofuel Credits
The U.S. DOJ announced a settlement with Chevron U.S.A. Inc. over violations of the Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard program. Chevron agreed to pay a civil penalty of just over $1 million and had already retired valid Renewable Identification Numbers worth about $3.6 million to address the violations. According to the DOJ, Chevron disclosed that from January to August 2022, it improperly generated more than 2.2 million advanced biofuel credits on renewable diesel that had already been used for prior credit generation and sold to third parties. The settlement was filed in federal court in the Southern District of Texas.
🔗 Read more → U.S. DOJ’s Press Release

UK Industry Publishes Version 1 of Voluntary Net-Zero Carbon Buildings Standard
The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard Version 1 was published last week as a voluntary framework for new buildings, existing buildings, and retrofit projects. The Standard is intended to provide a single agreed methodology for assessing whether buildings are net-zero carbon aligned, supported by reporting, evidence, and verification requirements. Version 1 was updated following pilot testing and wider industry feedback. New features include landlord-only and tenant-only verification routes, plus an optional verified “on track” check at practical completion. Verification is expected to open in Q2 2026.
🔗 Read more → UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard

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Complaint Targets Mazda New Zealand Tree-Planting Claims as Greenwashing
Lawyers for Climate Action NZ and climate mitigation specialist Paul Young filed a complaint with New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) alleging Mazda New Zealand misleads consumers by claiming that five trees planted for each new car sold will, over the vehicle’s five-year warranty term, “mitigate any environmental impact from CO₂ emissions.” The complaint uses the Mazda CX-5 as an example and argues the benefit is materially overstated, alleging five native trees would offset less than 0.1% of the vehicle’s manufacture-and-use emissions over the first five years. It asks the ASA to require Mazda to change or remove the claims.
🔗 Read more → Lawyers for Climate Action (Press Release, Complaint Filing)

Study Finds Gen Z Is Especially Alert to Greenwashing and Reputation Gaps
A new study led by Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) found that Generation Z is especially attentive to whether companies’ environmental claims match their actual conduct. Based on responses from 8,980 people across six countries in Europe and Latin America, the research suggests Gen Z does not show systematic distrust of companies, but is more likely to reward environmental commitment when it appears credible and consistent and to penalize inconsistency. The study also found that respondents in the European sample, especially in Spain, were generally more critical than those in the Latin American sample, and that women tended to value corporate environmental commitment and reputation more positively than men.
🔗 Read more → UOC’s News Release, Full Research Article

Catch up on previous editions → ESGLitigation.com

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