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Carbon Majors Continue to Drive Global Warming Pollution: Report

December 9, 2020 Filed Under: Featured

By Karen Savage

The world’s major carbon emitters have done little to reduce their impact on global warming, with newly updated research showing that 20 companies are still responsible for a staggering 35 percent of all carbon emissions worldwide since 1965.

The update builds upon previous research by Richard Heede, director of the Climate Accountability Institute, who released a report last year that covered the period from 1965—the point at which researchers say companies and governments were fully aware of the catastrophic effect carbon emissions have on the global climate—through 2017.  

The update extends that report through 2018, the latest year for which data is available, which shows negligible emission reductions by the top 20 companies. 

“On the theory that fossil fuel producers bear substantial responsibility for the adverse impacts of their products, we quantify how much each company’s carbon fuels contribute to rising CO2 emissions and atmospheric concentration,” Heede said in a statement.

Several companies facing climate liability suits in the U.S.—including Chevron, Exxon, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips and Total—remain among the most prolific carbon emitters, according to the report.

The data includes operational emissions, which are typically created by companies during production, as well as emissions created by the use of their products, which are generally not reported by companies.

“Although global consumers from individuals to corporations are the ultimate emitters of carbon dioxide, we focus on the fossil fuel companies that, in our view, have produced and marketed the carbon fuels to billions of consumers with the knowledge that their use as intended will worsen the climate crisis,” Heede said, adding that companies that value their social license to operate must respect climate science, manage climate risk and reduce their emissions.

Heede said fossil fuel companies that hope to survive must also transition to renewables, carbon sequestration, and low-carbon fuels.

“Companies leading this transition will prosper,” Heede said. “Laggards will perish.”

Filed Under: Featured

Tyson Uses Fossil Fuel Playbook to Argue for Federal Jurisdiction in Covid Lawsuit

November 24, 2020 Filed Under: Featured, Liability Litigation

By Karen Savage

At first glance, fossil fuel companies facing climate change-related lawsuits have little in common with an Iowa meatpacking plant hoping to duck a lawsuit for allegedly not protecting its workers from Covid-19.

But Tyson Foods is emulating  Exxon, Shell, Chevron, BP and other fossil fuel companies being sued for their role in climate change by arguing the pandemic-related case raises issues of federal law. The meatpacking giant contends it was acting under federal instructions, including an executive order issued by President Trump.

The fossil fuel companies argue that cases against them should be heard in federal court in part because they were issued leases by the federal government, which they say qualifies them as “federal officers.” Tyson claims that President Trump’s designation of meatpacking plants as “essential,” qualifies it as a federal officer.

Both Tyson and the fossil fuel companies are relying on the Federal Officer Removal Statute, which says that cases filed against those acting under the direction of the federal government should be heard in federal court.  

Thus far, fossil fuel companies haven’t had much luck. The First, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits have ruled  that the climate cases belong in state courts and have swept aside the arguments that those federal leases make them answerable only to federal laws.

Whether Tyson will succeed remains to be seen.  The lawsuit against it was filed by the family of 52-year-old Isidro Fernandez, a Tyson employee who died of Covid-19 in April. Fernandez was one of thousands of workers at the plant who tested positive for the virus.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured, Liability Litigation

Big Law Firms’ Work Deepens Climate Crisis, Report Says

October 1, 2020 Filed Under: Featured, Liability Litigation

Harvard students protest the law firm Paul, Weiss for defending Exxon

By Karen Savage

Top law firms, led by the two major firms that represent Exxon and Chevron, are worsening the climate crisis, according to new research into the role the legal industry plays in climate change.

The report, 2020 Law Firm Climate Change Scorecard, was released Thursday by Law Students for Climate Accountability (LS4CA), an organization of law school students from across the country who are committed to holding the legal industry accountable for its role in climate change.

LS4CA researchers examined the work of the top 100 firms as ranked by Vault.com, which compiles an annual ranking of the most prestigious firms in the United States. Researchers analyzed litigation, transactional work, and lobbying work done by each firm between 2015 and 2019.

“Law firms write the contracts for fossil fuel projects, lobby to weaken environmental regulations, and help fossil fuel companies evade accountability in court. Our research is the first to expose the broad extent of firms’ role in driving the climate crisis,” Alisa White, a student at Yale Law School and a lead author on the report said.

LS4CA researchers found the nation’s top firms worked on 286 cases that exacerbate climate change, compared with 27 that address or curb climate change.

Two firms were highlighted for their work on behalf of fossil fuel companies: Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, whose attorneys are defending Exxon in litigation filed by dozens of municipalities seeking restitution for climate damages, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, which works on behalf of Chevron in those same suits, among others.

“Paul, Weiss worked on as many cases exacerbating climate change as 62 other Vault 100 firms combined,” the authors wrote.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured, Liability Litigation

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