New York City Sues Five Major Oil Companies

As a result of the Paris agreement to clamp down on global warming, a global effort is being made to focus on following and combatting climate change. President Donald Trump, however, decided to withdraw the US from the Paris agreement. And this now means that states are having to take it upon themselves to act against global warming.

How has the fossil fuel industry affected New York?

Bill de Blasio, the Mayor of New York, has decided to sue the fossil fuel industry, hitting at five major oil companies. On behalf of New York City, Blasio criticised the oil companies for playing a major part in the extreme weathers hitting the US. Hurricane Sandy hit New York in 2012, causing over $71 billion worth of damage in. Blasio is also threatening to sell $5 billion in fossil fuel investments from the cities pension funds.

Blasio states that the fossil fuel industry is drawing profit from a behaviour they know to be harmful, fostering their greed rather than the future. And that it is their arrogance that has lead to billions of dollars’ worth of damage to be caused and 362 lives to be taken across the US in 2017 due to extreme weather.

The City of New York claim that with the $5 billion dollars taken from the city pensions and the money gained through the lawsuit will be used to “shift the costs of protecting the city from climate change impacts back on to the companies that have done nearly all they could to create this existential threat”.

The five major oil companies bite back

The accusations didn’t go without a reaction from the oil companies. Shell, one of the oil companies under fire, have responded by stating that climate change is ‘a complex societal challenge’ that is needed to be addressed through a sound government and implemented by a cultural change by consumers, not the court.

Additionally, Chevron, another of the 5 oil companies to be sued, described the lawsuit as ‘factually and legally meritless’ with it only serving special interests opposed to the real issues of climate change.

Can a lawsuit again them really be justified?

Whether or not the lawsuit will be successful has been highly debated, and Blasio’s lawyers are yet to realise their legal strategy. Although the effects of fossil fuels and fossil fuel farming has been proven to contribute to global warming, there is no direct link between the oil firms and the damages caused.

In 2008, a village in Alaska attempted to sue the big oil companies with a similar case. But the case was dismissed as the evidence justify that the damages were caused through climate change as a direct result of the oil companies. But there is still hope, with New York being the money capital of America, courts may be swayed to follow the lawsuit through.

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