On July 27, 2018, the federal district court for the Northern District of California granted the motions of four oil and gas companies for dismissal on personal jurisdiction grounds of Oakland’s and San Francisco’s climate change public nuisance lawsuits. The court previously ruled in a June 25 order that the actions should be dismissed for failure to state a claim. In its July 27 order, the court concluded that it could not exercise specific jurisdiction over the four companies, none of which was a resident of California, because it was “manifest that global warming would have continued in the absence of all California-related activities of defendants.” Because the plaintiffs “failed to adequately link” the four companies’ alleged California activities to the alleged climate change harms such as sea level rise, they did not satisfy the “but-for” causation standard for specific jurisdiction.

Public nuisance actions brought by City of Oakland and City of San Francisco against fossil fuel companies.

City of Oakland v. BP p.l.c.

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A Month After Rejecting Oakland and San Francisco’s Climate Change Public Nuisance Claims, California Federal Court Also Concluded It Had No Personal Jurisdiction Over Four of Five Defendants

Filed

United States of America

California

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

A potent, short-lived greehouse gas, largely released from livestock, fossil fuel extraction and waste management.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

This sector creates and distributes information and entertainment through television, radio, print, and digital platforms.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

A Month After Rejecting Oakland and San Francisco’s Climate Change Public Nuisance Claims, California Federal Court Also Concluded It Had No Personal Jurisdiction Over Four of Five Defendants

Risk

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance