Exxon wins climate change lawsuit

Dec 11, 2019 News

(Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp on Tuesday scored a win in a closely-watched case after a judge ruled that the company did not hide the true cost of climate change regulation from investors.
The case, brought by the New York Attorney General, is one of dozens of lawsuits in the United States brought against oil companies by local and state governments over global warming.
Justice Barry Ostrager said that the state had failed to prove investors were misled.
The following is a summary of how climate change litigation is playing out across the United States:
* Exxon was the first case to go to trial against a major oil company over climate change.
* The New York attorney general had accused the Texas-based company of using two sets of books to hide the true cost of climate change from investors.
* Exxon had assailed the lawsuit as political. The company has said the two sets of figures used to calculate dollars per ton of carbon emissions served different purposes – evaluating global demand and planning for specific capital projects.
* In a statement on Tuesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James said she would “continue to fight to ensure companies are held responsible for actions that undermine and jeopardize the financial health and safety of Americans and to end climate change. James did not say whether she would appeal.
* Exxon said Tuesday’s ruling affirmed that the New York attorney general’s investigation was “baseless” and said the company had provided investors with accurate information.
* The Massachusetts attorney general filed a similar lawsuit in October accusing Exxon of misleading investors and consumers for decades about the role fossil fuels played in climate change. That suit accuses Exxon of misleading consumers, not just investors. Exxon has denied the allegations.
* In addition to the litigation by attorneys general, Baltimore, Rhode Island and about a dozen local governments have sued oil and gas companies including BP Plc and Chevron Corp over climate change. The lawsuits claim the companies created a public nuisance by producing the fossil fuels that contributed to global warming. They seek funds to pay for seawalls and other infrastructure to guard against extreme weather and rising sea levels brought on by climate change.
* The companies deny the claims. They say the lawsuits will do nothing to stop climate change and that they are working to address the issue.
* Meanwhile, teenagers across the country have filed more than half a dozen lawsuits accusing states and, in one case, the U.S. government of violating their constitutional rights to life, liberty and property by failing to implement policies that curb climate change. Governments have argued there is no constitutional right to a clean environment and that Congress and the White House, not the courts, should set climate change policy.

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Exxon wins climate change lawsuit

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