Climate Liability

The world is already feeling the impacts of climate change. As the consequences of climate neglect grow more intense, the world will be looking for answers. Our work at The Climate Investigation exposes the culprits responsible for the current climate crisis and how it was able to get this far.  

Climate Liability Updates

PBS Frontline “The Power of Big Oil” Viewer’s Guide: Documents and Reference Material

This post includes some of the documents, advertisements and news clips that were featured in the three part documentary, “The Power of Big Oil,” aired April 2022. I have also included additional resources from our ClimateFiles archive where appropriate PART ONE: DENIAL You can watch and find a handy transcript of Part One here. Global

Hurricanes and Climate Change: A case of “Fake TV News” & ExxonMobil disinformation?

I am often asked the difference between disinformation and misinformation. The following is a prime example of disinformation, made more stark by Hurricane Ida that just left devastation in New Orleans and surrounds. In June 2006, less than a year after Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and wrecked New Orleans, Tech Central Station, a project run

Three More Climate Lawsuits, September 2020: Hoboken, Charleston and Delaware

We are experiencing a torrential downpour of climate lawsuits. After new suits filed this summer by the State of Minnesota and Washington, DC, now in the past week or so there have been three more major suits filed by Hoboken, New Jersey, Charleston, South Carolina and the State of Delaware: Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken, New

Climate Lawsuit: State of Minnesota v. ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, API – June 2020

Link to annotated brief: Minnesota v. ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, API

Climate Lawsuit: Washington, DC v. ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP – June 2020

Link to complaint with hyperlinked footnotes and referenced documents: Washington, DC v. ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP

Climate Lawsuit Index: Complaints with links to footnotes and referenced documents

The following is an index of recent climate lawsuits. We uploaded each complaint on DocumentCloud and added an electronic index and links to all available documents referenced or footnoted in the lawsuits. Connecticut v. ExxonMobil – Sept. 2020 State of Delaware v. BP et al – Sept 2020 City of Charleston v. Brabham Oil Company

Imperial Oil Document Trove

Overview of Imperial Oil Document Archive Published on ClimateFiles.com Imperial Oil Limited, Exxon’s Canadian subsidiary, took a very different path from Exxon in the U.S. thirty years ago, revealing the vulnerabilities and strategies of an oil company in the age of climate crisis. While Exxon was laying low in the late 1980s – early 1990s,

Climate Lawsuit: Massachusetts vs. ExxonMobil – November 2019

It’s been nearly four years in development. Massachusetts filed late last week and its an amazing ~200 page read. ExxonMobil has fought Attorney General Maura Healey and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts all the way…with an arsenal of aggressive tactics…trying to prevent this day from coming. More analysis and news in coming weeks and months, but

Global Climate Coalition

Global Climate Coalition: Climate Denial Legacy Follows Corporations

As corporations are increasingly being held accountable for deception of shareholders and the public on climate risk, as authors and journalists explore this history, and as lawmakers investigate it, Climate Investigations Center embarked on a year-long investigation of the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), arguably the most impactful industry group ever to campaign against climate change

trade associations

Energy and Corporate Trade Associations Spend $1.4 Billion on PR Campaigns

How much money have the fossil fuel industry’s powerful trade association allies spent to convince the American public that its products are beneficial and necessary – and to stymie progress on climate change that could harm its financial interests? To find out, Climate Investigations Center researchers analyzed the public relations expenditures of these trade associations

climate files

History from Climate Files Follows Industry

Documents from Climate Investigations Center’s Climate Files archival portal continue to inform the discussion regarding culpability for the climate crisis. Most recently, in County of San Mateo v. Chevron Corp., et al., eight amicus briefs were filed supporting the plaintiffs seeking redress for climate change’s impacts on their communities. One of the briefs, filed by

Kert Davies

The Climate Change Countermovement: Brown University Report and Panel

Earlier this month, CIC’s Kert Davies was an invited speaker at a collaborative conference held at Brown University on the economic impacts of climate change and the opposition to policy advances. The day long event, America’s Climate Change Future: Housing Markets, Stranded Assets, and Entrenched Interests, gathered experts on a range of climate change topics

Lawsuits

Climate Liability Lawsuits Keep Coming in 2019

With the impacts of climate change becoming more visible and more dire, the movement to hold corporations accountable is growing day by day. As readers know, we have been covering the climate liability lawsuits that have been filed of late and 2018 was a banner year as reported by Climate Liability News. Several new lawsuits

Drilled: The Climate Crime of the Century

A newly released podcast, Drilled, “investigates the crime of the century — the creation of climate denial.” The eight part series takes listeners back in time to the inception of climate change denial. It tells the story of the special interests that launched campaigns against evolving climate science and the momentum created by this science,

ALEC, american legislative exchange council

ALEC Lost Membership Worth Over $7 Trillion in Market Cap

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative nonprofit whose membership includes state legislators, corporations, and think tanks, is holding it’s 2018 States and Nation Policy Summit in Washington, DC this week. ALEC has been called a “corporate bill mill,” helping secure favorable state legislation for some of the largest companies in the country. However, the

Human Rights

Philippines Human Rights Commission Investigates Climate Denial

As climate change liability –who is to blame– increasingly lands in courtrooms around the globe, the Philippines Commission on Human Rights is taking a different and unique approach, investigating climate change impacts as a human rights infringement. The Commission has held a series of hearings this year to investigate the role of fossil fuel companies (also

Climate Files, Climate Change

Climate Files Update: Decades of Denial

CIC has recently published twenty-five hard to find documents to our Climate Files portal. The documents added to our collections feature entities who have perpetuated climate denial for decades, including: The Western Fuels Association, a consortium of coal utilities and suppliers, Patrick Michaels of the Cato Institute, ExxonMobil, and The Global Climate Coalition The Western Fuels

Patrick Michaels, Climate Change

Patrick Michaels’ 30 Years of Climate Denial

I. Michaels Cancels on Fossil Fuel Impact Investigation On September 28, 2018, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines was scheduled to hear Patrick Michaels in their ongoing investigation into carbon majors’ contributions to climate change and its impacts on Filipinos. Michaels, currently the Director of the Center for the Study of Science at

Climate

Climate Lawsuits in Baltimore and Rhode Island & New Climate Files Documents

Since Climate Investigation Center’s last climate liability update there have been multiple developments, some favorable to plaintiffs, others less so. As the legal battles progress, CIC continues to uncover and curate primary documents on its Climate Files portal. In the last two months, we’ve added documents to our Exxon, Shell, and trade association collections that further

Climate Files, Climate Change, Climate Denial

Climate Files Update: Shell, Exxon, and Early Denial

Document Updates As climate change impacts grow more serious everyday, documents housed on Climate Files preserve the crucial history of who knew what, when they knew it, and what they did next. Recently released documents include: 1996 remarks from former ExxonMobil CEO, Lee Raymond; 1994 edition of ABC’s Nightline television program reporting on corporate funding