The federal district court for the District of Minnesota stayed its order remanding Minnesota’s climate change lawsuit against the fossil fuel industry. The court found that a stay was prudent both due to uncertainty about the impacts on the Eighth Circuit’s consideration of the remand order of the Supreme Court’s decision in Mayor & City Council of Baltimore v. BP p.l.c. and the Second Circuit’s decision in City of New York v. Chevron Corp. and also because it was possible there might be a final disposition in state court prior to resolution of the Eighth Circuit’s appeal, which would be a “concrete and irreparable” injury to the defendants. The court also found that judicial economy and conservation of resources weighed in favor of a stay. Because the balance of factors was likely to shift over time, the court said it would reevaluate the stay if the Eighth Circuit appeal was not resolved in 12 months. The court also denied Minnesota’s motion for attorney fees, concluding that “removal advanced critical legal questions that have not yet been resolved by the higher courts.”

Action brought by Minnesota against members of the fossil fuel industry for allegedly causing climate change harms by misleading the public by downplaying the threat of climate change and the role of their products in causing climate change.

Minnesota v. American Petroleum Institute

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Federal Court Stayed Remand Order in Minnesota’s Climate Case Against Fossil Fuel Industry, Denied Attorney Fees

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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.

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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.

The activities of industries that transforms raw materials into finished goods through industrial processes.

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

Climate change can have a range of impacts on technological system. Extreme weather events can cause infrastructure failures like power outages or damage to roads and bridges, as well as the impacts from waste following natural disasters. Human activities also cause technological impacts, such as the risks posed by oil spillage and leaks.

Federal Court Stayed Remand Order in Minnesota’s Climate Case Against Fossil Fuel Industry, Denied Attorney Fees

Risk

Fossil fuel

Economic sector