In the climate change public nuisance cases brought by Oakland and San Francisco, the federal district court for the Northern District of California rejected the fossil fuel company defendants’ remaining grounds for removal of the cases to federal court. The district court first concluded that it was bound by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ rulings in the County of San Mateo and Honolulu cases that the connection between the defendants’ alleged conduct on the Outer Continental Shelf and the plaintiffs’ alleged injuries was too attenuated to give rise to jurisdiction under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, even if the district court itself would have found differently if “writing on a clean slate,” given the plaintiffs’ “sustained emphasis and attacks on production and sale of fossil fuels and given the central role of the outer Continental Shelf in America’s oil production.” In addition, the district court found that Ninth Circuit precedent in other climate change cases foreclosed federal enclave jurisdiction and jurisdiction under the federal-officer removal statute. The court also rejected the defendants’ argument that there was federal jurisdiction because the plaintiffs’ claims necessarily raised substantial First Amendment issues. The court vacated its earlier dismissal of four defendants on personal jurisdiction grounds, writing that “both sides deserve a clean slate in state court” but that the vacatur should not be considered as changing the court’s view of the personal jurisdiction issue.

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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California Federal Court Concluded that Ninth Circuit Precedent Dictated Remand of Oakland and San Francisco Climate Cases

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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 loan is a policy instrument where funds are provided to a borrower with the expectation of repaying the principal plus interest.

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

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

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.

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.

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

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.

California Federal Court Concluded that Ninth Circuit Precedent Dictated Remand of Oakland and San Francisco Climate Cases

Policy instrument

Risk

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance