A Minnesota District Court denied fossil fuel industry defendants’ motions to dismiss all but one of the claims brought by the State of Minnesota alleging that the defendants misled consumers and the public regarding fossil fuels’ contributions to climate change. The court denied American Petroleum Institute’s and ExxonMobil defendants’ motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, concluding both that the defendants consented to general jurisdiction by registering to conduct business in the state and also that specific personal jurisdiction was consistent with the notion of fair play and substantial justice. The court rejected the defendants’ contentions that federal common law or the Clean Air Act preempted the State’s claims. The court concluded that the Clean Air Act had displaced federal common law governing interstate air pollution but further concluded that even if federal common law still existed it would not preempt the state law consumer deception and failure-to-warn claims, which were not attempts to regulate transboundary air pollution. In addition, the court held that the Clean Air Act did not preempt the state law claims based on conflict preemption because the State’s claims of failure to warn and deceptive marketing would not interfere with Congress’s objective of federal regulation of air pollution under the Clean Air Act. The court also rejected the argument that the foreign affairs doctrine preempted the State’s claims, finding that the claims would not be an obstacle to climate change-related negotiations with foreign nations. In addition, the court found that the case did not present nonjusticiable political questions and that the dormant Commerce Clause did not preclude the State’s claims. The court also found, at the pleadings stage, that the First Amendment did not protect the defendants’ allegedly misleading and fraudulent speech. In addition, the court declined to dismiss the State’s claims as time-barred. The court also found that the State sufficiently pled that the defendants’ alleged deception resulted in climate-related harms; sufficiently pled a failure to warn; alleged fraud with sufficient particularity; and sufficiently pled misrepresentation, fraud by omission, and intent to deceive. The court found that the State did not sufficiently allege that the defendants’ statements were made “in connection with the sale of any merchandise” and therefore did not State a claim under the Minnesota Consumer Fraud Act. But the court found that the State did adequately state statutory consumer fraud claims under the Minnesota Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Minnesota False Statement in Advertisement Act and had sufficiently alleged a conspiracy. The court also rejected an argument that Minnesota’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) barred the State’s case. The court concluded that the anti-SLAPP law did not apply to enforcement actions brought by the Attorney General.

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.

State v. American Petroleum Institute

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Minnesota Court Allowed State to Proceed with Climate Deception Claims Against Fossil Fuel Companies

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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.

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.

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

Conditions that enhance the feasibility of adaptation options. Enabling conditions include finance, technological innovation, strengthening policy instruments, institutional capacity, multi-level governance and changes in human behaviour and lifestyles.

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

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.

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

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.

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

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

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

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

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

Activities that involve the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock for food, fibre, and other products essential for human life and industry.

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.

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.

Minnesota Court Allowed State to Proceed with Climate Deception Claims Against Fossil Fuel Companies

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance