A Rhode Island Superior Court denied a motion by Chevron Corporation and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (together, Chevron) to strike certain jurisdictional allegations from the State of Rhode Island’s complaint in its lawsuit to hold Chevron and other fossil fuel defendants liable for their contributions to climate change harms to the State. Chevron characterized as “baseless” the State’s allegations that Chevron “extracted,” “refined,” “and/or” “manufactured” a “substantial portion of” Chevron’s fossil fuel products in Rhode Island and that Rhode Island “consume[s]” a “substantial portion” of Chevron’s products. The court found that the State “had a good faith basis” for the allegations. The court also rejected Chevron’s contentions that the use of “and/or” in the allegations was improper and that the allegations constituted improper shotgun or group pleading. The court also denied both Chevron’s and the State’s requests that it impose sanctions.

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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Rhode Island Court Denied Chevron’s Motion to Strike State’s Jurisdictional Allegations from Climate Change Complaint

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Rhode Island Court Denied Chevron’s Motion to Strike State’s Jurisdictional Allegations from Climate Change Complaint

Policy instrument

Risk

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance