Wednesday, February 23rd, 2022 — Climate-related lawsuits like those filed against energy companies Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell Plc and PG&E Corp. have dominated ESG litigation in recent years. But there are signs an increase in cases extending beyond the environmental pillar of ESG may be coming.
More government and investor scrutiny of labor conditions and supply chains will boost the amount of corporate disclosure in those areas, said Nneka Chike-Obi, a director for sustainable finance at Fitch Ratings.
That will give stakeholders the opportunity to glean discrepancies between what companies disclose and what they actually do, she said in a report last week. And those discrepancies will form the basis of lawsuits seeking redress.
‘Climate is obviously the most pressing existential threat to the environment, but a lot of other topics are now getting more targeted regulation,’ Chike-Obi said in an interview.
When it comes to social litigation, the frequency of cases is often tied to wider societal events.
