TotalEnergies formally appealed (July 27) the landmark Paris Judicial Court ruling that ordered it to revise its climate vigilance plan to include Scope 3 emissions — upstream and downstream from its own operations. The appeal does not suspend the lower court's decision: TotalEnergies must still submit a revised climate vigilance plan before the end of December 2026, with judicial review scheduled
Oxford Law Blogs' Business Law Blog published analysis (July 30) making the critical legal point that the EU Omnibus package's weakening of statutory CSRD obligations does not neutralise the surrounding legal landscape. Tort litigation, human rights jurisprudence, sector-specific financial regulation, and national due diligence regimes continue to shape corporate climate obligations independently
The Paris Judicial Court's June 25, 2026 judgment in a climate-related duty of vigilance case against a major oil and gas company is the week's most consequential climate litigation development for corporate counsel. The court held that climate risks fall within the scope of France's 2017 duty of vigilance law and that Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions — approximately 90% of the company's total at
The Seventh Circuit's July 16, 2026 ruling keeping Chicago's climate-deception lawsuit against fossil fuel companies in state court is a significant procedural win for municipal climate plaintiffs. The fossil fuel accountability litigation strategy has consistently sought federal removal as a defense tactic; keeping these cases in state court typically favors plaintiff-friendly procedural rules an
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an Executive Order on July 14, 2026 pausing environmental permits for new hyperscale data centers for one year while the state develops a regulatory framework. The moratorium reflects intensifying tension between AI infrastructure buildout and state-level climate commitments — data centers represent a rapidly growing share of grid demand and carbon intensity.
Two Paris Judicial Court decisions issued in the same week represent the sharpest European climate litigation signal of 2026. In the first, the Paris Judicial Court found Volvic liable for "misleading commercial practices" and ordered the company to pay €75,000 in damages and €10,000 in legal costs to a consumer protection association, holding that the claims "carbon neutral" and "100% recycled" w
On July 14, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order imposing the nation's first statewide moratorium on large-scale data center construction. The order takes effect immediately and directs the Department of Environmental Conservation not to issue discretionary permits for new data centers with a power demand of 50 megawatts or more for up to one year, while state regulators develo
The Paris Judicial Court ruled on June 25 that TotalEnergies must disclose the climate risks tied to emissions from its oil and gas products — including Scope 3 emissions from end users' combustion of its fuels — and revise its statutory vigilance plan within six months to address them, applying France's 2017 duty of vigilance law to climate risk for the first time. The court stopped short of orde
Oregon state court judge Adele Ridenour heard two full days of arguments this week in Multnomah County's roughly $52 billion lawsuit against Chevron and other fossil fuel companies over the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome, which killed 69 people. Defense counsel Theodore Boutrous argued federal law preempts the claims and that defendants' Oregon contacts are insufficient for the case to proceed t
The Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics published its Global Trends in Climate Change Litigation: 2026 Snapshot on June 25, documenting 249 new cases filed in 2025 and a total corpus of more than 3,600 cases across 62 countries — up from 17 countries a decade ago. Twenty percent of U.S. cases filed in 2025 constitute "protective litigation" resisting Trump administration
The Paris Judicial Court ruled on June 25 that TotalEnergies' Scope 3 emissions — those generated when customers burn its oil and gas products, representing roughly 90% of the company's carbon footprint — fall within the scope of France's 2017 corporate duty of vigilance law. The court did not impose binding production cuts or a fine; instead, it ordered TotalEnergies to publish a revised vigilanc