With Supreme Court petitions and a juvenile climate trial on the horizon, 2023 could be a watershed moment for climate litigation.
In 2022, five fresh petitions were submitted urging the Supreme Court to reconsider oil companies’ requests for federal jurisdiction over climate misinformation cases brought by states and municipalities. In addition, the first new oil majors climate case in over a year will be heard in New Jersey district court.
Should the justices opt to take up the cases, the likely renewed Supreme Court conflicts might be the key event for climate litigation in 2023.
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The petitions “reflect these large greenhouse gas emitters hoping that a politicized and anti regulatory conservative six-justice majority will take the case and agree,” Georgetown law professor William Buzbee said.
Meanwhile, young people from Montana may be the first to go to trial in their constitutional climate challenge in June. This comes as the 21 plaintiffs in the national climate case Juliana v. United States await news on whether their modified complaint may be heard.
“It’ll be another exciting year for climate litigation in 2023,” Lewis & Clark Law School professor Lisa Benjamin said in an email.
Cities, states, and counties looking to pin climate deception claims on major energy companies will face another round of Supreme Court moves in 2023.
Oil and gas companies are urging justices yet again to weigh in on climate liability questions, which still carry the potential to derail the cases’ progress in lower courts.
Company attorneys filed four petitions in 2022, challenging decisions in lawsuits from Colorado, Baltimore, Maryland, and Hawaii. Justices will decide next year whether to take up the cases.
The Biden administration is on the hook in 2023, after the Supreme Court asked the solicitor general to provide briefing on Boulder, Colo.’s, case before issuing a decision on the petition.
That request “puts the federal government in an awkward position,” Benjamin noted.
“Even though this administration has managed to pass historic legislation to address the climate crisis, it doesn’t necessarily mean the government would be enthusiastic about climate cases being decided in state courts,” she said.
The state of New Jersey also filed a new consumer protection suit in October, breaking a yearlong hiatus in new climate liability cases.
Oil companies knew for years that fossil fuel infrastructure was exacerbating climate impacts that have devastated the state of New Jersey, according to the complaint brought by Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin.
Story was adapted from Bloomberg law.
