The federal district court for the District of Delaware granted fossil fuel industry defendants’ motion to stay execution of the court’s January 5 order remanding the State of Delaware’s climate change case to state court. The court stayed the remand order until the Third Circuit issues its ruling on the defendants’ appeal. The court agreed with the defendants that removal jurisdiction issues for climate change-related state law claims left “reasonable room for disagreement” and noted that each of the defendants’ removal grounds raised an issue of first impression for the Third Circuit. The court therefore found the defendants had made “the necessary showing of a likelihood of success on the merits.” The court also found that the defendants demonstrated they would likely suffer irreparable harm because “there may be no practical way to ‘un-ring the bell’ of the state court’s intervening rulings if the Third Circuit ultimately determines that the case should proceed in federal court.” In addition, the court found that a stay pending appeal would not substantially harm Delaware and would serve the public interests of judicial economy and conservation of public resources.

Lawsuit seeking to hold the fossil fuel industry liable for the physical, environmental, social, and economic consequences of climate change in Delaware.

Delaware v. BP America Inc.

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Delaware Federal Court Stayed Its Remand Order in Delaware’s Climate Case Against Fossil Fuel Companies

Filed

United States of America

Delaware

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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