Author name: Alison Taylor

ExxonMobil executives privately sought to undermine climate science even after the oil and gas giant publicly acknowledged the link between fossil fuel emissions and climate change, according to previously unreported documents subpoenaed by New York’s attorney general as part of an investigation into the company announced in 2015. They add to a slew of documents that record a decades-long misinformation campaign waged by Exxon. The documents could bolster legal efforts to hold oil companies accountable for their alleged attempts to sow doubt about climate science. (Article from The Guardian) Read More

This article explains the history of the province-wide Sue Big Oil campaign, including the activities of our local Sunshine Coast Sue Big Oil team. It’s a great read if you’re wondering why we’re doing what we’re doing, and whether we have a chance at success. (Article from Breach Media) Read More

Six young people from Portugal are taking 32 European countries to court. The case seeks a legally binding decision that would force the governments to act against climate change. One of the applicants’ lawyers believes their chances of success are high as “all the signals so far from the court have been extremely positive”, including its fast-tracking of the case as an urgent and important matter. (Article from EuroNews.com) Read More

Oil and gas companies can afford the billions it will take to clean up their messes and it’s up to governments to force them to do so, a new analysis has found. “We can’t wait for 10 years from now to start charging these companies their cleanup costs because 10 years from now, production will have fallen. Now is when these companies are still making massive, massive, massive profits. And they must be forced to use the profits, to use the revenues, to clean up their mess now.” (Article from National Observer) Read More

Our efforts here on the Sunshine Coast are part of a global phenomenon of individuals and groups taking legal action to slow climate change. Here’s a world map of those cases which have been filed before national courts or quasi-judicial bodies specific to a given country. (Global Trends in Climate Change Litigation: 2023 Snapshot) Read More

In an opinion column in Powell River’s newspaper The Peak, Neil Abramson, a retired professor from SFU’s Beedie School of Business, explains why he’s changed his mind and joined the local Sue Big Oil group, which advocates for suing oil and gas corporations for damaged caused by climate change. (Article from The Peak Newspaper) Read More

In a Montana courtroom, 16 young people are suing the state for failing to take action to curb global warming. This ongoing climate change lawsuit is the first to reach trial among dozens filed across the U.S. in the last decade. Harrowing, personal accounts could soon be heard more often in other jurisdictions, including in Canada. (Article from CBC News) Read More

A recent CBC interview with Dave Sawyer, Principal Economist at the Canadian Climate Institute, noted that climate change could cost Canada at least $25 billion annually starting as early as 2025 – just two years from now. (CBC News, Power and Politics Episode) Read More

Climate litigation in the US could be entering a “game changing” new phase, experts believe, with a spate of lawsuits around the country set to advance after a recent supreme court decision, and with legal teams preparing for a trailblazing trial in a youth-led court case beginning next week. (Article from The Guardian) Read More