After the U.S. Supreme Court granted fossil fuel companies' petition for writ of certiorari in the City of Boulder and Boulder County Commissioners' <a href="https://www.climatecasechart.com/collections/board-of-county-commissioners-of-boulder-county-v-suncor-energy-u-s-a-inc-_be5980">climate case</a>, the fossil fuel industry defendants in this case asked the Hawai‘i trial court to continue the stay of proceedings that was in place due to the United States’ pending lawsuit in federal court seeking to enjoin Hawai‘i’s lawsuit. The defendants argued that it “will promote judicial economy and the interests of justice to continue to pause proceedings here to permit the Supreme Court to provide potentially dispositive guidance regarding a core threshold issue in this case.” The defendants also argued continuing the stay was warranted due to defendant Chevron’s filing of a motion to enforce a 2002 judgment in a case that resolved claims brought by the State of Hawai‘i arising from alleged deceptive manufacture, marketing, and sale of petroleum products. The defendants argued that the resolution of Chevron’s motion could dispose of this case as to Chevron and that other defendants in this case also intend to file similar motions in the other case. In addition, the defendants argue that the court should continue the stay until the United States’ lawsuit in federal court is resolved. 

State of Hawai'i's lawsuit alleging that fossil fuel industry defendants' misrepresentations and concealment regarding the climate impacts of fossil fuel products led to climate change harms.

State of Hawai’i v. BP p.l.c.

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State of Hawai’i v. BP p.l.c. - motion

Filed

United States of America

Hawaii

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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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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.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

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.

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

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

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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.

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People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

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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.

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

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

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

This sector includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

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.

State of Hawai’i v. BP p.l.c. - motion

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance