So-called climate activists are increasingly turning to the courts to combat climate change. According to a report from the London School of Economics, the number of climate change-related lawsuits globally has more than doubled in the last seven years.

Cases where a company highlights its operations as being more environmentally friendly than they actually are came into the spotlight in 2022. In October, the Australian corporate watchdog fined Tlou Energy for making “factually untrue” statements regarding its environmental measures. In November, at the COP27 conference, UN experts condemned the “empty slogans and hype” created by many environmental claims.

At the COP27 conference, significant attention was also paid to the losses and damage caused by companies, as developing countries most affected by climate change demanded compensation from wealthier nations responsible for disproportionately high emissions.

This has encouraged activists to launch more lawsuits against those stalling efforts to curb climate change.