Bucks County, Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas against fossil fuel companies and American Petroleum Institute alleging that the defendants had engaged in a “disinformation campaign to discredit the scientific consensus on climate” despite having known since at least the 1950s that fossil fuels’ production of greenhouse gas emissions could have “catastrophic consequences for the planet and its people.” The County alleged that while undertaking this campaign, the defendants took actions to protect their own investments from climate change impacts. The County further alleged that the defendants’ promotion of fossil fuel use and concealment of fossil fuels’ connection to climate change—which the County described as “straight out of the advertising playbook of Big Tobacco”— “delay[ed] meaningful development of alternative energy sources and exacerbate[ed] the costs of adapting to and mitigating the adverse impacts of the climate crisis, including the climate crisis in Bucks County.” The County alleged that the adverse impacts included more frequent and intense storms, flooding, storm surge, rising waters in the tidal Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, saltwater intrusion, droughts, and extreme heat events. The County said it had incurred and would continue to incur substantial costs for actions to adapt to climate change, including for new and upgraded infrastructure to withstand the impacts, increased maintenance and emergency operations, and provision of services such as cooling centers. The County asserted causes of action for strict products liability—failure to warn, negligent products liability—failure to warn, negligence, public nuisance, private nuisance, trespass, and civil conspiracy. The relief sought by the County included compensatory and punitive damages, equitable relief, disgorgement of profits, costs including attorney fees, and pre-judgment interest.

Pennsylvania county's lawsuit seeking to hold fossil fuel industry defendants liable for impacts allegedly arising from the defendants' "disinformation campaign" regarding their products' contribution to climate change.

Bucks County v. BP p.l.c.

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Pennsylvania County Filed Lawsuit Seeking to Hold Fossil Fuel Industry Defendants Liable for Climate Change Impacts

Filed

United States of America

Pennsylvania

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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.

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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

People who are less able to respond to the effects of climate change due to having limited financial or physical assets

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Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

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 target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

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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.

Actions or measures to adapt terrestrial systems to climate change.

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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.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

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.

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.

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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.

Energy derived from biological compounds that are renewable due to their short life cycle within the carbon dioxide cycle.

Kinetic energy of airflow transformed into useful energy, mostly electrical energy.

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.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

Jobs that contribute to preserving or restoring the environment. We include jobs which require a high amount of green skills or which spend much of their time on green activities, as well as jobs transforming polluting industries.

People who have left their homes, whether through force, voluntarily, or a mixture of both

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.

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

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

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This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

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

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

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

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

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.

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Climate change impacts our society by disrupting the natural, economic and social systems we depend on. Physical hazards and underlying vulnerabilities can lead to increased resource competition for food and water, which can heighten the risk of conflict.

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.

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Pennsylvania County Filed Lawsuit Seeking to Hold Fossil Fuel Industry Defendants Liable for Climate Change Impacts

Target

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance