In climate change-based tort lawsuits brought by California municipalities, the California Court of Appeal reversed a trial court order granting Citgo Petroleum Corporation’s (Citgo’) motion to quash service of summons for lack of personal jurisdiction. The appellate court found that the trial court erred in concluding that the municipalities’ claims did not arise from or relate to Citgo’s California contacts. The court found that the municipalities demonstrated that Citgo purchased, distributed, and sold fossil fuel products to California consumers via contractual arrangements with other companies, that Citgo promoted the products as Citgo gasoline, and that Citgo “did not include any materials identifying climate-related risks associated with utilizing gasoline.” The appellate court found that “[b]ecause the complaint clearly encompasses claims based upon a duty to warn and asserts that Citgo failed to do so,” the plaintiffs met their burden to demonstrate a connection between Citgo’s California contacts and their claims. The court therefore concluded that specific jurisdiction over Citgo was appropriate. The court also found that Citgo failed to demonstrate that exercise of jurisdiction was unreasonable.

California's and local governments' lawsuits against fossil fuel companies alleging that the defendants' concealed and misrepresented the risks of climate change and caused the plaintiffs' climate change injuries.

In re Fuel Industry Climate Cases (County of San Mateo v. Citgo Petroleum Corp.)

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California Appellate Court Found that Trial Court Erred in Concluding It Lacked Jurisdiction Over Citgo in Municipalities’ Climate Cases

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California's and local governments' lawsuits against fossil fuel companies alleging that the defendants' concealed and misrepresented the risks of climate change and caused the plaintiffs' climate change injuries. 

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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

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

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

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.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

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.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

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.

Any substance with chemical properties that can cause physical harm to people or damage the environment, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, microplastics, benzene, asbestos, aflatoxins, fluoride, methanol, and toxins from marine sources.

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.

Geohazards are adverse geological phenomenon's that are capable of causing widespread damage or loss to property, life and the environment, such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions and tsunamis. Climate change can increase the frequency and severity of some geohazards, such as landslides, and soil erosion.

California Appellate Court Found that Trial Court Erred in Concluding It Lacked Jurisdiction Over Citgo in Municipalities’ Climate Cases

Policy instrument

Risk

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance