Read the latest insights and analysis from the experts at Oil Change International.
Litigation can make or break fossil fuel expansion. As governments fail to meet climate and human rights obligations and spend billions in taxpayer money supporting fossil fuel production, courtrooms are busier than ever settling climate disputes and issuing crucial advisory opinions clarifying States’ obligations.
A new academic study, accepted for publication in Harvard Environmental Law, asks the pertinent question about Big Oil and climate change: “Given the extreme lethality of the conduct and the awareness of the catastrophic risk on the part of fossil fuel companies, should they be charged with homicide?”
"This is a massive win for people all around the world. The Court's ruling is crystal clear. Oil and gas companies can no longer hide behind empty climate promises and green PR. They will need to cut oil and gas production and sales to bring their emissions down in line with 1.5°C."
The Waorani people of Ecuador have won a historic victory in court protecting half a million acres of their territory in the Amazon from oil drilling.
In a classic counter-punch move designed to scare off those trying to hold Big Oil accountable for its actions, Exxon has started suing the lawyers who are themselves suing the company over the #Exxonknew scandal - for misleading the public and investors over the risk of climate change.
It is a significant legal ruling in what has been described as the “most important lawsuit on the planet right now”.
The serial offender Shell is being sued. Again. The oil giant finds itself in a court in London today for the second time in five years for its ongoing chronic pollution problems in the Niger Delta.
For anyone concerned about the rising spate of crude by rail accidents across North America, the derailment and explosion last July of a crude by rail train in downtown Lac Megantic, Quebec, which killed 47 local residents, has become something of a cause célèbre.
Just under 60,000 people have now signed a petition that demands that the French energy company EDF drop a sinister lawsuit against 21 climate change activists who occupied one of its power plants last year.
