News & Analysis
February 3, 2026
Minnesota is one step closer to putting three major architects of climate denial on trial for climate and consumer fraud after a state appeals court ruled that the state’s climate accountability case could keep moving forward.
State Attorney General Keith Ellison sued ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute (API) in 2020, accusing the two fossil fuel companies and their largest trade organization of running a “campaign of deception” to mislead Minnesotans about the harm of fossil fuels. The case charges the companies with violating Minnesota state laws against consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices, and false statements in advertising, and seeks an end to those illegal practices, among other corrective actions.
A three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled last week that a lower court was right to reject Exxon, Koch, and API’s arguments to dismiss the case. The ruling means the state’s lawsuit can continue proceeding toward discovery and trial.
Days before the ruling, Michigan became the 11th state to sue Big Oil for climate deception. As Minnesota’s and similar cases against Big Oil keep moving forward, the fossil fuel industry has accelerated its campaign to lobby Congress for immunity from climate lawsuits, with API announcing that killing “state climate lawsuits” was one of the oil lobby’s top 2026 priorities. A growing number of elected officials and local and national groups are calling on Congress to protect access to the courts and reject any proposal to put Big Oil above the law.
“These defendants prioritized their profits over the people of Minnesota, and deception was their business model,” Ellison said after Minnesota’s court victory last year. “The court’s thorough analysis and well-reasoned order puts us one step closer to proving that in court.”
