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A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected New York City’s lawsuit against five major oil companies that it holds responsible for the cost of adapting to climate change and considered that the matter should be settled in other ways.
The Second District Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled in favor of Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP because it did not consider it appropriate that the lawsuit was initially filed at the state level and that enforcement of pollution laws are the responsibility of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In addition, the ruling states that “global warming is a matter of international scale, touching on issues of federalism and foreign policy. Therefore, it requires referral to federal, not state, law.”
It also argues that federal laws limit only domestic emissions and are not responsible for those occurring outside the country’s borders.
Judge Richard Sullivan dismisses the case filed in 2018 by the city of New York to hold big oil companies responsible for the cost derived from global warming due to the emission of greenhouse gases, one of the first in this regard.
The judge also recalled that the lawsuit is brought against a legal activity of extracting, producing and selling fossil fuels.
