Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal submitted by major oil and gas companies aiming to block a lawsuit from the city and county of Honolulu, Hawaii, which seeks to hold the fossil fuel sector accountable for its role in climate change.
- In a Monday order, the country’s top court denied petitions Sunoco LP and Shell put forward last year asking for a review of the Hawaii State Supreme Court’s 2023 decision that allowed the case to proceed to trial.
- The court’s decision was revealed in an order list issued Jan. 13 and provided no further explanation, though the order stated Justice Samuel Alito — who holds stock in several oil companies — didn’t take part in the decision.
Dive Insight:
The city and county of Honolulu filed the suit against Shell, Sunoco, ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, and other oil majors in a state court in March 2020, followed by an amended complaint in 2021, alleging the companies falsely portrayed climate change risks and exacerbated climate-driven disasters in the area.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court said it would hold a conference on Jan. 10 to determine whether it would hear arguments from Shell, Sunoco and others in their appeal of a Hawaii State Supreme Court decision which allowed Honolulu’s climate lawsuit against the oil companies to continue.
The October 2023 decision from Hawaii’s top court came after multiple courts declined to dismiss Honolulu’s climate suit or move it to federal jurisdiction. Ultimately, the island state’s supreme court also denied the petitioning fossil fuel companies’ motion to dismiss.
The justices’ Monday decision to not step into the case stands to be a major victory for state, cities and municipalities — from California to Chicago — that are looking to hold Big Oil accountable for its role in spurring climate change and related natural disasters.
“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court is a resounding affirmation of Honolulu’s right to seek justice under state law for the mounting climate impacts caused by fossil fuel companies’ deceptive practices,” Delta Merner, lead scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists’ science hub for climate litigation, said in a statement following the Monday decision.
Honolulu’s suit against Big Oil is one of at least 86 climate cases filed against fossil fuel producers since 2015, according to a recent report from Oil Change International and Zero Carbon Analytics. The report also found that the annual number of climate-related lawsuits filed against the world’s largest fossil fuel producing companies has nearly tripled since the Paris Agreement was adopted a decade ago. Companies facing litigation include Shell, BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil.
