Press Releases
May 19, 2025
ILLINOIS — The City of Chicago won an early victory in its climate deception lawsuit against major oil companies after a federal judge ruled that the case can move forward in state court, securing another win for communities seeking to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for its decades of climate lies.
Chicago’s case charges ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, Phillips 66, ConocoPhillips, and the American Petroleum Institute with knowingly fueling the climate crisis for decades while lying to the public about the reality of climate change. The case seeks to make the oil companies pay for the damages caused by their climate deception.
To date, eight federal appeals courts and more than a dozen federal district courts have unanimously ruled against the fossil fuel industry’s arguments to move similar climate deception lawsuits out of state courts. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the issue three times since 2023.
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement:
“This ruling is an important victory for the people of Chicago that brings them one step closer to putting Big Oil companies on trial for their climate lies and make them pay for damage they’ve caused. The people of Chicago are paying the price for climate damages that Big Oil companies knowingly fueled for years. It’s past time that these companies are held accountable for defrauding the public.”
Background on U.S. Climate Accountability Lawsuits Against Big Oil:
Eleven attorneys general — in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai`i, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia — and dozens of city, county, and tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, and Puerto Rico, have filed lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change. These cases collectively represent more than 1 in 4 people living in the United States. Last year, the attorney general of Michigan announced plans to take fossil fuel companies to court.