“We were lied to for more than 50 years”
California is suing oil giants over climate change
September 16, 2023, 2:28 p.m
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BP, Shell and other oil giants should face trial if California Governor Newsom has his way. The US state blames corporations for global warming and accuses them of misleading the public.
The US state of California has sued five of the world’s largest oil companies over billions of dollars in environmental damage and allegations of misleading. California filed a lawsuit Friday against Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhilips and Chevron, as well as the American Petroleum Institute, an industry association, according to court documents. The state accuses them of “deliberately downplaying” the risks associated with the use of fossil fuels.
“For more than 50 years, the oil giants have lied to us and concealed the fact that they have long known how dangerous the fossil fuels they produce are to our planet,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom. California now wants to “hold major polluters accountable.”
The defendants had known since the 1950s “that their products were likely to cause significant global warming,” according to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco court. Oil and gas company managers have known “for decades that dependence on fossil fuels would lead to these catastrophic results.”
Nevertheless, they withheld this information from the general public and politicians and “actively spread false information on the topic” for decades, according to the 135-page lawsuit. Because of this “deception,” society was slow to respond to global warming. The “misconduct” of the oil bosses led to “enormous costs for people, property and natural resources”.
“By downplaying the scientific consensus on climate change and emphasizing uncertainty, defendants hoped to delay any regulatory action (…),” the oil companies are further accused in the court documents. When asked, the companies initially did not comment on the matter.
With its lawsuit, California seeks to establish a fund to cover the costs of future damage caused in the state as a result of climate change, such as wildfires and floods.