Taking Big Oil to Court: U.S. Cities and States Sue for Climate Change-Related Natural Disasters
As wildfires rage across California for the most active fire season in U.S. history and a record-tying 28th storm nears the Gulf of Mexico, it’s fair to say that we can add unprecedented natural disasters to our 2020 Bingo Card.
Years like 2020 are not anomalies and are quickly becoming the norm. Seemingly, with each new year comes a tragic new record: most acres burned, most homes flooded, most lives lost— the list goes on. The trend of each year’s natural disasters being more frequent and intense than the last is becoming increasingly obvious. A growing body of scientific evidence shows this trend is the direct result of human-induced climate change, particularly from the intensive burning of fossil fuels. The U.S. cities and states most affected by these disasters have started pointing fingers at Big Oil, demanding retribution in the courts.
Washington D.C, sitting between two rivers and built on a swamp, is one of the most recent of now over a dozen locations to file lawsuits against oil and gas corporations for their role in causing today’s climate crisis. Although these suits range from liability to fraud, what they all have in common is a charge that megalithic oil and gas giants have consciously deceived the public, and downplayed their products role in climate change while overstating their dedication to renewable energy.
The threat carbon emissions pose to the environment and its effects on society were well established long before oil and gas corporations publicly acknowledged the climate crisis. In fact, an investigative report by InsideClimate News found that the American multinational oil and gas corporation, Exxon Mobile, was made aware of the catastrophic effects of climate change several decades before they came forward about their products’ devastating potential in the mid 2000s. Not only did Exxon Mobile hide this knowledge from its consumers and investors, but it also donated considerable funds to campaigns against mainstream climate research. From 1997-2007 alone, the company poured $20 million (about £15.4 million) into interest groups and lobbies that denied the environmental danger of their products and correlation between fossil fuel use, climate change, and natural disasters. One such lobby—the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)—published a widely circulated advert to draw doubt on climate change, proclaiming that: ‘Carbon Dioxide: they call it pollution. We call it life’. Exxon Mobile’s most recent endorsement of climate change denial has come in the form of significant donations to the Trump campaign, first in 2016, and now again in 2020.
Since being pressured by organizations around the world to publicly recognize the clear and present danger of climate change, Exxon Mobile has shifted to its plan B: trying to re-brand themselves as a green company, while continuing their business as usual. This has involved an advertising campaign involving undue attention to their research on innovative renewables which represents only a fraction of their spending. These adverts serve to distract from the lion’s share of their business focused on extraction and emission and excuse them from meaningful action to combat climate change.
Exxon Mobile is by no means the only corporation within Big Oil to engage in this deceit. Shell, Chevron, and BP have all used similar tactics which have allowed for their continued profit at the expense of the planet and communities at greatest risk from natural disasters. These three corporations, in addition to Exxon Mobile, have made a total of two-trillion USD (£1.54 trillion) in profit since 1990, and research by the Guardian indicates that together these same companies account for 10% of the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1965.
Cities and states across American are finally saying enough is enough. Using a logic similar to that used by the lawsuits against Big Tobacco in the early 2000s, the litigants chasing down Exxon Mobile and its competitors today are claiming that this deceit has led to massive damages that require compensation. In 2006, Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that tobacco companies ‘marketed and sold their lethal products with zeal, with deception, with a single-minded focus on their financial success, and without regard for the human tragedy or social costs’. What the oil and gas industry have done is no different. By knowingly and purposely putting profit before accountability, these corporations have sat back, feeding our addiction to fossil fuels while knowing well and good what that means for our planet, climate, and security.
Whether or not these lawsuits succeed, they provide a much-needed platform for cities and states to confront these oil giants and make clear that their actions will no longer go unnoticed. By publicly exposing their malicious deceit, these lawsuits force Big Oil to start taking accountability for the Climate Crisis that they have helped create. Whether or not this comes in the form of compensation for damages is largely irrelevant. What matters is that they no longer pass the buck on climate change and begin to demonstrate transparency and genuine investment in a sustainable future. The fact that these trials are being heard is a win for our planet and the communities—coast to coast—that suffer disproportionally from its effects.
