By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A decide has dismissed New York Metropolis’s lawsuit searching for to carry Exxon Mobil , BP (NYSE:) and Shell (LON:) responsible for deceptive the general public about their merchandise, and their dedication to renewable vitality and preventing local weather change.
In a call on Tuesday, state Supreme Court docket Justice Anar Patel mentioned the town couldn’t declare its climate-conscious residents have been delicate to how fossil fuels trigger local weather change, solely to then be duped by the oil firms’ failure to reveal how their fossil gas merchandise contributed to it.
“The city cannot have it both ways,” Patel wrote.
Patel discovered no proof the oil firms and the defendant American Petroleum Institute performed “greenwashing” campaigns, together with statements about clear vitality and various vitality, to spice up gross sales of fossil gas merchandise within the metropolis.
She additionally mentioned normal statements resembling Exxon’s declare that its gas helps individuals drive “cleaner, smarter and longer” have been too imprecise to recommend the defendants’ merchandise had nothing to do with local weather change.
With about 8.3 million individuals, New York Metropolis mentioned the businesses falsely portrayed themselves in adverts and social media as local weather change leaders regardless of minimal investments in clear vitality resembling wind and photo voltaic.
It sought civil fines and an finish to alleged deceptions.
Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesperson for the town’s legislation division, on Wednesday mentioned the town is reviewing its choices.
“Our complaint alleged that these defendants spent millions to mislead consumers to think that they, and their products, contribute to a clean energy future,” he mentioned. “They do not. Companies that violate the city’s consumer protection laws should be held fully accountable. New Yorkers deserve no less.”
In an announcement, Exxon mentioned: “At some point, our hope is that political figures around the country come to understand that ideological hatred for us doesn’t mean we did anything wrong.”
Shell declined to remark. BP didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Many U.S. state and native governments have sued oil firms over local weather change, together with the emission of carbon dioxide and different greenhouse gases.
Patel dominated in the future after the U.S. Supreme Court docket refused to halt the town of Honolulu’s personal lawsuit towards Exxon, BP, Shell and a number of other different oil firms.
New York Metropolis’s lawsuit started in April 2021, three weeks after a federal appeals court docket rejected its lawsuit searching for to carry Exxon, BP, Shell, Chevron (NYSE:) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:) liable to pay its prices from international warming.
The American Petroleum Institute welcomed the most recent determination. “Climate policy is for Congress to debate and decide, not a patchwork of courts,” mentioned Ryan Meyers, the commerce group’s normal counsel.
The case is Metropolis of New York v. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:) et al, New York State Supreme Court docket, New York County, No. 451071/2021.
