CLIMATE LAWSUITS IN THE FIELD OF FINANCING

The article is devoted to the study of new types of climate lawsuits — lawsuits in the field of financing. The authors investigate the concept and classification of such claims. Financial climate lawsuits are climate protection lawsuits against states, public and private financial institutions in the financial field. Financial lawsuits have become an important area of attention for climate dispute participants who seek to achieve broad systemic changes by increasing the cost of loans for activities with high CO2 emissions. The study shows that climate change lawsuits pose increasing risks to financial institutions. Similar lawsuits can be filed against various financial institutions — national central banks, private banks, various funds (including pension funds), insurance companies, and finally, individuals (company directors, fund trustees, risk managers). Climate finance lawsuits can be filed on various grounds, including: a) lawsuits challenging misleading statements by banks or companies about investments related to climate protection (greenwashing lawsuits); b) lawsuits requiring financial institutions to disclose climate-related information; c) lawsuits based on financial institutions’ failure to comply with environmental and human rights requirements when purchasing corporate bonds; d) lawsuits about “poor” management, in particular, due to excessive investments of funds in fossil fuel projects, etc. Financial climate lawsuits are a rapidly changing branch of legal practice, the experience of which should be studied by all financial institutions without exception.

climate lawsuits, lawsuits in the field of financing, Paris Agreement, green financing, climate financing, lawsuits against banks, “greenwashing”, HSBC, ECB, CBA, ClientEarth, National Bank of Belgium

Ermakova E. P., Protopopova O. V. Climate lawsuits in the field of financing. Business. Education. Law, 2022, no. 4, pp. 220—224. DOI: 10.25683/VOLBI.2022.61.427.