The South Carolina Court of Common Pleas dismissed the City of Charleston’s lawsuit seeking compensation from fossil fuel companies for damages allegedly incurred as a result of the companies’ deceptive marketing of their products, which inflated consumption of fossil fuels and accelerated climate change. First, the court concluded that the structure of the U.S. Constitution precluded the City’s state law claims—which were based on tort law and the South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act—because they involved interstate and international greenhouse gas emissions. Second, the court held that the Clean Air Act preempted the City’s claims, analogizing to Supreme Court precedent holding that the Clean Water Act precluded application of state law against out-of-state sources. The court further held that the claims should be dismissed as a matter of state law on four grounds: (1) the political question doctrine; (2) the statute of limitations; (3) failure to adequately allege the claims; and (4) lack of personal jurisdiction over certain defendants.

Lawsuit seeking to hold fossil fuel companies liable for the impacts of climate change on the City of Charleston.

City of Charleston v. Brabham Oil Co.

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South Carolina Trial Court Dismissed Charleston’s Climate Case Against Fossil Fuel Companies

Filed

United States of America

South Carolina

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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