March 2020
The city and county of Honolulu filed a state lawsuit against major oil and gas companies — including ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, and Chevron — seeking to make them pay for the cost of climate damages that the companies long knew their businesses would create and intensify, including rising sea levels, coastal erosion, flooding, supercharged storms, and other extreme weather events. “Climate change is not just a risk to human health, it risks threatening the fiscal health of our City,” said Honolulu City Council Budget Chair Joey Manahan. “This lawsuit stands up to protect Honolulu’s taxpayers by putting the responsibility to pay for climate-related damages back on Big Oil where it belongs. Fossil fuel companies have known for decades that their profits were coming directly at the expense of frontline communities like ours.”
- News: InsideClimate News • Hawaii Star-Advertiser • DeSmog
- Analysis: Honolulu Sues Big Oil Over Climate Change Damages (2020) • Honolulu Wins Key Rulings in Lawsuit Against Big Oil (2022) • Hawaii Climate Cases Can Proceed in State Court, Ninth Circuit Rules in 5th Straight Defeat for Big Oil (2022) • Honolulu’s climate lawsuit can move forward to trial after court rejects Big Oil arguments (2023)
- Read the Complaint: City and County of Honolulu v. Sunoco et al.