{"id":86927,"date":"2026-06-25T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T23:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/?post_type=publication&p=86927"},"modified":"2026-06-24T20:46:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T19:46:53","slug":"global-trends-in-climate-change-litigation-2026-snapshot","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/global-trends-in-climate-change-litigation-2026-snapshot\/","title":{"rendered":"Global trends in climate change litigation: 2026 snapshot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This report focuses on key trends and evolutions in global climate change litigation from the calendar year 2025, while also highlighting important new developments through to May 2026. The primary source of data is the Climate Litigation Database<\/path><\/svg><\/a> maintained by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The<\/strong> report explores developments in the field through five themes<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. The continued maturation<\/strong> of the field as a recognised dimension of global climate governance<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Its ongoing expansion and innovation<\/strong> across new locations, actors and legal theories<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. The scale and coordination of the pushback<\/strong> now underway against both climate action, in general, and climate litigation specifically<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. The growing complexity<\/strong> of a field increasingly enmeshed in the politics and trade-offs involved in the implementation of climate policy responses<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. The current state of knowledge about the implementation and impacts<\/strong> of climate litigation in the real world.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    This report is the ninth in a series. You can find previous years’ reports here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Core insights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The authors identify the following key trends for the period January to December 2025:<\/strong>
    • In 2025, 249 new climate cases were filed, bringing the total since 1986 to more than 3,600 cases.
    • Over three quarters of these cases have been filed since 2015, the year of the Paris Agreement.
    • Cases have been filed across 62 countries, up from just 17 countries a decade ago. In 2025, cases were newly filed in Grenada, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Singapore and Zambia.
    • The United States remains the jurisdiction with the highest number of cases: 151 new cases were recorded in 2025, bringing the total to 2,078.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Maturity<\/h4>\n\n\n\n