On February 28, 2024, fossil fuel companies filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the Hawai‘i Supreme Court’s October 2023 decision allowing the City and County of Honolulu and the local water utility board (Honolulu) to proceed with state common law claims based on the companies’ alleged misrepresentations and concealment of their products’ contributions to climate change. The companies’ petition presented a single question: “Whether federal law precludes state-law claims seeking redress for injuries allegedly caused by the effects of interstate and international greenhouse-gas emissions on the global climate.” The companies contended that the case presented the Court with “its only foreseeable opportunity in the near future to decide a dispositive question that is arising in every climate-change case.” They characterized the question as one “of extraordinary importance to the energy industry, which is facing dozens of lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages for the alleged effects of global climate change.” They argued that the Hawai‘i Supreme Court’s decision conflicted with the Second Circuit’s decision in <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/city-new-york-v-bp-plc/">City of New York v. BP p.l.c.</a>—which held that federal law precluded similar claims by New York City—and also could not be reconciled with other federal circuit of appeals decisions regarding the application of state law to interstate pollution. The companies also argued that the Hawai‘i Supreme Court’s decision conflicted with U.S. Supreme Court precedent, which the companies summarized as providing that “regulation of interstate pollution is an inherently federal area necessarily governed by federal law, and Congress has not permitted—and indeed has preempted—resort to state law except for claims seeking redress for harms caused by in-state emissions.” The companies also argued that the Hawai‘i Supreme Court’s conclusion that Honolulu’s claims “did not fall within the inherently federal area of interstate pollution” was based on “a false dichotomy” between injury caused by failure to warn and deceptive promotion and injury caused by interstate and international emissions. The companies contended that the Supreme Court’s review was warranted because “[t]he stakes could not be higher”; they stated that the more than two dozen cases filed by states and municipalities against fossil fuel companies “present a serious threat to one of the Nation’s most vital industries.” They argued that allowing cases to proceed under state law was “a blueprint for chaos” and that Honolulu’s case was a “suitable vehicle” for reviewing the question presented.

Lawsuit seeking damages and other relief from fossil fuel companies for alleged conduct that the City and County of Honolulu contends actually and proximately caused climate change impacts.

Sunoco LP v. City & County of Honolulu

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Fossil Fuel Companies Asked U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Viability of Honolulu’s State-Law Climate Change Claims

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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

Financial support to help individuals manage the effects of unexpected events, securing their livelihoods and increasing the resilience of people and businesses to the changing climate. It’s especially vital in developing regions where everyday risks, climate-related weather extremes, or crop failures can push people into poverty. Without insurance, people may have to resort to selling assets or cutting consumption to cope with losses.

Codes and standards are regulatory instruments that specify minimum standards to protect health and safety. This ranges from performance standards, which prescribe outcomes while allowing flexibility to achieve compliance, to the more prescriptive approach of technology-specific standards.

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

A company that is owned wholly or partially by the state, typically operating in key sectors.

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

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Actions and measures to adapt and increase resilience of societies and the economy to climate change.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

Hot temperature extremes are daily maximum temperatures  that were exceeded on average once in a decade or once in 50 years, and includes heatwaves.

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

A potent, short-lived greehouse gas, largely released from livestock, fossil fuel extraction and waste management.

Actions to reduce emissions in energy generation and supply.

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.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

Air pollution involves harmful contaminants in the air, affecting both indoor and outdoor environments. It can lead to health issues like respiratory diseases and heart problems, and climate impacts such as global warming. Pollutants can damage plants, trees, habitats, and water bodies like rivers and lakes.

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.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

Activities that provide lodging, food, and entertainment services to guests, including hotels, restaurants, and resorts.

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

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

This sector involves the distribution, treatment, and conservation of water resources.

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.

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.

Heavy precipitation refers to any form of weather where substances fall from the sky, including rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

Fossil Fuel Companies Asked U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Viability of Honolulu’s State-Law Climate Change Claims

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance