A Delaware Superior Court granted fossil fuel industry defendants’ motion to stay proceedings in the State of Delaware’s climate change lawsuit pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in <a href="https://www.climatecasechart.com/collections/board-of-county-commissioners-of-boulder-county-v-suncor-energy-u-s-a-inc-_be5980">Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County</a>. The court found that it was “unclear” whether the State’s sole remaining claim, which asserted a violation of the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act, would fall within the scope of the Supreme Court’s decision in Boulder. The court concluded that it would be “prudent” to wait for the Supreme Court’s decision, which “[a]t a minimum, … will likely provide helpful guidance as to future determinations in this case.” The court was not persuaded by the State’s arguments that a delay would cause the State substantial harm; the court noted that the State sought money damages, not injunctive relief.

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

State v. BP America Inc.

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Delaware’s Climate Case Against Fossil Fuel Defendants Stayed While U.S. Supreme Court Considers Boulder

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

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

Delaware’s Climate Case Against Fossil Fuel Defendants Stayed While U.S. Supreme Court Considers Boulder

Fossil fuel

Economic sector