The federal district court for the Central District of California denied plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment on their facial First Amendment challenge to California’s laws requiring companies to make disclosures regarding their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risk. The court concluded that additional factual development was necessary to determine whether the laws regulate commercial speech so that intermediate, rather than strict, scrutiny would apply. The court said that it would need, for example, information about whether the laws regulate “a substantial number of companies that do not make potentially misleading environmental claims” as well as information about any “real-world examples” of the laws’ overinclusiveness. The court therefore granted the defendants’ motion to deny or defer summary judgment. The court also said it would address the defendants’ motion to dismiss the extraterritorial regulation and Supremacy Clause claims in a separate decision.

Lawsuit challenging two laws enacted by California that require companies to estimate and publicly disclose greenhouse gas emissions and climate change risks.

Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. California Air Resources Board

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California Federal Court Declined to Grant Plaintiffs’ Summary Judgment on First Amendment Challenge to California Climate Disclosure Laws

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

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

Tradable permits are market-based tools that grant permission for specific activities, frequently used to regulate emissions. These permits can be issued within a trading system to manage environmental impacts.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

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 the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

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

Activities of businesses and institutions that provide financial services and products to individuals and organisations.

California Federal Court Declined to Grant Plaintiffs’ Summary Judgment on First Amendment Challenge to California Climate Disclosure Laws

Policy instrument

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector