Rhode Island also moved to remand its climate change case against fossil fuel companies to state court. First, Rhode Island said the defendants’ assertion that federal common law necessarily governed its claims was an ordinary preemption defense that did not confer federal jurisdiction. The State also contested the defendants’ contention that climate change tort claims must be exclusively pleaded under federal common law and argued that its claims fell outside the scope of federal common law. The State also disputed the contentions that its claims necessarily raised substantial, disputed federal questions and that the Clean Air Act completely preempted its claims. In addition, the court argued against jurisdiction based on the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, enclave jurisdiction, the federal officer removal statute, bankruptcy removal provisions, and admiralty jurisdiction. 

State of Rhode Island lawsuit seeking to hold fossil fuel companies liable for causing climate change impacts that adversely affect Rhode Island and jeopardize State-owned or -operated facilities, real property, and other assets.

Rhode Island v. Chevron Corp.

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Remand Motion Filed in Rhode Island Climate Change Case

Filed

United States of America

Rhode Island

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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