Chicago joins the growing wave of climate accountability lawsuits against Big Oil

Chicago sued ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, and the American Petroleum Institute this week, joining dozens of communities across the U.S. in demanding the fossil fuel industry pay for knowingly fueling the climate crisis. With Chicago — the third largest city in the U.S. — joining the wave of climate accountability lawsuits, more than 25% of the nation’s population live in states and municipalities suing oil companies over their climate lies.

Chicagoans have been burdened with worsening air pollution threats, massive flooding, dangerous heat, and other harmful climate impacts — all of which have hit the city’s low income and vulnerable residents the hardest. The city argues that the fossil fuel industry’s decades-long campaign of disinformation around their role in the climate crisis ultimately delayed the transition to lower-carbon energy sources “which — in turn — drove up greenhouse gas emissions, accelerated global warming, and brought about devastating climate change impacts to the City of Chicago.”

“These companies knowingly deceived Chicago consumers in their endless pursuit of profits,” said Chicago Alderman Matt Martin, a CCI Leader who previously advocated for the city to take action. “As a result of their conduct, Chicago is enduring extreme heat and precipitation, flooding, sewage flows into Lake Michigan, damage to city infrastructure, and more. That all comes with enormous costs. But both the facts, and the law, are on our side, and we intend to shift those costs back where they belong: on the companies whose deceptive conduct brought us the climate crisis.” 

The lawsuit calls on the Big Oil companies to pay for the damages Chicago is experiencing because of climate change, including adaptation projects to make the city more resilient in the face of the changing climate.

“With Chicago, the nation’s third largest city, joining the fray, there is no doubt that we are witnessing a historic wave of lawsuits that could finally hold Big Oil accountable for the climate crisis they knowingly caused,” said CCI President Richard Wiles.