The U.S. Supreme Court invited the Solicitor General to file a brief expressing the views of the United States on petitions for writ of certiorari seeking review of the Hawaii Supreme Court’s decision allowing Honolulu to proceed with its climate change lawsuit against fossil fuel companies. Justice Alito did not participate in the consideration of the petitions. The petitions present questions related to whether federal law preempts Honolulu’s state law claims.

Lawsuit seeking damages and other relief from fossil fuel companies for alleged conduct that the City and County of Honolulu contends actually and proximately caused climate change impacts.

Sunoco LP v. City & County of Honolulu

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Supreme Court Invited Solicitor General to Present U.S. Views on Honolulu’s Climate Case Against Fossil Fuel Companies

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Supreme Court Invited Solicitor General to Present U.S. Views on Honolulu’s Climate Case Against Fossil Fuel Companies

Policy instrument

Fossil fuel

Finance