NYC climate change suit against Big Oil runs out of gas
A New York state appeals court rejected the city's attempt to hold ExxonMobil, Shell and BP liable for consumer deception over ads calling their gasoline 'cleaner' and 'emissions-reducing.' The five-judge panel found that climate-aware consumers weren't actually fooled, reasoning that anyone motivated to buy lower-emission gas already understood the link between fossil fuels and climate change in the first place.
The court compared the ads to Diet Coke marketing, saying both made 'relative' rather than 'absolute' claims: diet soda is lower-calorie than regular soda, and the gasoline in question emits less than other gasoline, not nothing. The judges also found the ad campaigns fell outside city consumer protection law since they weren't tied closely enough to an actual sale.
New York filed the suit in 2021, weeks after a federal appeals court tossed a similar case on grounds that climate change is a matter for federal, not state, law. The city says it's 'evaluating' next steps, while the Supreme Court separately heard arguments this week in a Boulder, Colorado case that could decide the fate of similar suits nationwide.
The full dispatch is available from the source below.