Corporate responsibility

Oil refinery towers silhouetted against a hazy sky for an article about the TotalEnergies greenwashing ruling

French court finds TotalEnergies guilty of greenwashing in a world first

By / / Good News For Humankind

A landmark greenwashing ruling against TotalEnergies marks the first time a fossil fuel company has been found legally liable for misleading climate claims anywhere in the world. A Paris court determined that TotalEnergies deceived the public by promoting carbon neutrality goals while continuing to expand oil and gas production. The company must now remove the false claims and display the full court judgment on its website for 180 days. Importantly, the case was won using existing consumer protection law, meaning similar challenges could be launched globally without waiting for new climate legislation.

Plastic nurdles washed up on a tropical beach for an article about the X-Press Pearl disaster compensation ruling

Sri Lanka wins billion from shipping companies over X-Press Pearl disaster

By / / Good News For Humankind

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court secured a landmark billion environmental ruling against the owners of the MV X-Press Pearl, the container ship that burned and sank off Colombo in 2021, releasing toxic chemicals and nearly 1,700 tonnes of plastic nurdles across South Asian waters. The July 2025 judgment delivers long-awaited accountability for thousands of fishing families whose livelihoods were devastated overnight. Beyond Sri Lanka, the ruling demonstrates that courts in developing nations can enforce the polluter-pays principle against powerful global shipping interests. Environmental groups are calling it a potential model for the Global South.

Chevron gas station located near a Louisiana wetlands restoration project site along the coast, for article on Louisiana wetlands restoration

Chevron ordered to pay $740 million to restore Louisiana coast in landmark trial

By / / Good News For Humankind

Louisiana wetlands just got a powerful new defender: a jury ordered Chevron to pay $744.6 million to restore marshland in Plaquemines Parish, with interest pushing the total past $1.1 billion. Jurors found that Texaco, which Chevron acquired in 2001, had spent decades dredging canals and dumping wastewater into the marsh without meaningful cleanup. The ruling matters far beyond one rural parish — it’s the first of dozens of similar cases to reach trial, and the communities on this vanishing coast are disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and low-income. As courts from Europe to the Americas increasingly hold polluters accountable, this verdict signals that coastal destruction is no longer just a political fight. It’s a legal one.