News & Analysis
April 11, 2023
Nonprofit groups and scholars of fossil fuel industry disinformation are citing new evidence in support of the District of Columbia’s lawsuit to hold oil majors accountable for their climate deception.
ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, and Shell “knowingly concealed and denied the hazards” of their fossil fuel products for decades and should face the evidence of their deception in District of Columbia courts, a coalition of climate disinformation scholars and nonprofit groups argue in a newly filed court brief.
The District of Columbia is seeking to put the four Big Oil companies on trial for lying to consumers about the known dangers of their fossil fuel products. Last year, a federal judge ruled that the case could proceed in D.C. Superior Court, where it was filed. The companies are now appealing that ruling to the D.C. Court of Appeals, even though six other federal appeals courts have rejected industry arguments to escape trials in state court in similar climate accountability cases.
In support of the District’s lawsuit, the Center for Climate Integrity filed a friend-of-the-court brief with other nonprofit groups and scholars of the fossil fuel industry’s climate disinformation efforts to provide “full documentation” of the oil companies’ historical and ongoing efforts to deceive the public.
“While their tactics have changed, Defendants’ overall strategy of deception continues to this day,” the brief reads. “Defendants now acknowledge that the climate is changing and claim to be leaders in efforts to combat climate change. However, they continue to run marketing and lobbying campaigns intended to mislead policymakers and the public about climate change and Defendants’ role in causing it.”
The brief marks the first time that documents obtained through a 14-months-long congressional investigation into Exxon, Chevron, Shell, and BP’s climate disinformation have been cited in a climate accountability lawsuit. It also details new revelations about Shell’s internal knowledge of climate change risks in the 1970s and 80s that were first reported by DeSmog earlier this month.
The brief was filed by CCI, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Naomi Oreskes, Geoffrey Supran, Robert Brulle, Justin Farrell, Benjamin Franta, and Stephan Lewandowsky.
