Climate Litigation and Greenwashing Disputes: Environmental, Social, and Governance Disclosures, European Union Trends, and a Legal Adaptation Framework for Türkiye

In a context where the physical and transition risks of climate change increasingly affect financial systems, climate litigation has emerged as a strategic governance arena with direct legal and financial consequences for corporations. Global overviews, including the United Nations Environment Program and Setzer and Higham ( 2024 ), report a steady rise in climate-related cases against companies, financial institutions, and corporate directors. The institutionalization of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures has transformed sustainability statements into traceable corporate records. This article maps corporate climate litigation and examines how ESG disclosures operate as evidentiary tools in climate-washing and greenwashing disputes, drawing on Milieudefensie and others v. Shell in the Netherlands and ClientEarth v. Shell in England to illustrate how courts define judicial limits through duty-of-care reasoning and directors’ duties. Recent litigation increasingly targets value-chain impacts and demands methodological transparency for net-zero and carbon-neutrality claims; climate-washing cases accelerated in 2023 and exceeded 140 globally. From Türkiye’s perspective, the Türkiye Sustainability Reporting Standards and existing legal tools against misleading environmental claims strengthen the evidentiary role of sustainability disclosures and raise compliance expectations.