Climate Litigation Maturity: Duty-of-Care and Transition-Plan Cases Expand Frontiers

An IIGCC analysis published in July characterized 2026 as a year of "maturity, momentum, and a wider cast" in climate litigation — with the key risk signal shifting from whether companies have made climate commitments to whether the quality and integrity of those commitments can withstand judicial scrutiny. Three emerging frontiers identified in the analysis: carbon dioxide removal and storage infrastructure cases (in Louisiana, New Zealand, Finland, and the EU contesting siting and liability), transition-plan litigation testing whether corporate net-zero pledges are legally enforceable as representations, and "financed emissions" cases targeting financial institutions for facilitating client emissions. Baker McKenzie and the World Economic Forum published a complementary report in April characterizing climate litigation risk as a board-level strategic risk signal for companies and their directors. In the Netherlands, Greenpeace has issued a legal warning against law firm Loyens & Loeff over its advisory role in emissions-intensive sectors — a precedent with direct implications for law firm ESG risk management and counsel-client boundary questions.