New York Metropolis lawsuit towards Exxon, BP, Shell over local weather change dismissed

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A choose has dismissed New York Metropolis’s lawsuit searching for to carry Exxon Mobil , BP (NYSE:BP) and Shell (LON:SHEL) responsible for deceptive the general public about their merchandise, and their dedication to renewable power and preventing local weather change.

In a call on Tuesday, state Supreme Courtroom Justice Anar Patel mentioned town couldn’t declare its climate-conscious residents have been delicate to how fossil fuels trigger local weather change, solely to then be duped by the oil firms’ failure to reveal how their fossil gas merchandise contributed to it.

“The town can not have it each methods,” Patel wrote.

Patel discovered no proof the oil firms and the defendant American Petroleum Institute performed “greenwashing” campaigns, together with statements about clear power and various power, to spice up gross sales of fossil gas merchandise within the metropolis.

She additionally mentioned common statements akin to Exxon’s declare that its gas helps folks drive “cleaner, smarter and longer” have been too obscure to recommend the defendants’ merchandise had nothing to do with local weather change.

With about 8.3 million folks, New York Metropolis mentioned the businesses falsely portrayed themselves in advertisements and social media as local weather change leaders regardless of minimal investments in clear power akin to wind and photo voltaic.

It sought civil fines and an finish to alleged deceptions.

Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesperson for town’s legislation division, on Wednesday mentioned town is reviewing its choices.

“Our grievance alleged that these defendants spent tens of millions to mislead customers to assume that they, and their merchandise, contribute to a clear power future,” he mentioned. “They don’t. Corporations that violate town’s shopper safety legal guidelines needs to be held totally accountable. New Yorkers deserve no much less.”

In an announcement, Exxon mentioned: “In some unspecified time in the future, our hope is that political figures across the nation come to know that ideological hatred for us does not imply we did something improper.”

Shell declined to remark. BP didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Many U.S. state and native governments have sued oil firms over local weather change, together with the emission of carbon dioxide and different greenhouse gases.

Patel dominated in the future after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom refused to halt town of Honolulu’s personal lawsuit towards Exxon, BP, Shell and a number of other different oil firms.

New York Metropolis’s lawsuit started in April 2021, three weeks after a federal appeals court docket rejected its lawsuit searching for to carry Exxon, BP, Shell, Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) liable to pay its prices from world warming.

The American Petroleum Institute welcomed the newest choice. “Local weather coverage is for Congress to debate and resolve, not a patchwork of courts,” mentioned Ryan Meyers, the commerce group’s common counsel.

The case is Metropolis of New York v. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) et al, New York State Supreme Courtroom, New York County, No. 451071/2021.