NYC’s lawsuit targets 5 drillers
City filing is latest over climate costs
New York joined other municipalities hoping to use the law to hold oil and gas producers responsible for costs related to the environmental effects of their products.
The biggest city in the U.S. said Wednesday that it’s suing BP PLC, Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp., and Royal Dutch Shell PLC claiming they’re the world’s largest industrial contributors to climate change. Several California municipalities — San Francisco, Oakland, San Mateo, Imperial Beach, Santa Cruz and Marin — previously filed suits against the oil industry over the environmental impact of fossil fuels.
“Defendants are collectively responsible, through their production, marketing and sale of fossil fuels, for over 11 percent of all the carbon and methane pollution from industrial sources that has accumulated in the atmosphere since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution,” lawyers for the city said in a complaint filed in Manhattan late Tuesday.
“Defendants are also responsible for leading the public relations strategy for the entire fossil fuel industry, downplaying the risks of climate change and pro-
moting fossil fuel use despite the risks,” they said.
The city hopes to build on legal efforts against producers of asbestos products, cigarettes and lead paint in what would be an extension of legal responsibility.
Curtis Smith, a spokesman for Shell, said by email: “We believe climate change is a complex societal challenge that should be addressed through sound government policy and cultural change to drive low-carbon choices for businesses and consumers, not by the courts.”
BP declined to comment, and the other three companies did not immediately comment.
The case against the oil companies is City of New York v. BP PLC, 18-cv-00182, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
PENSION FUND DIVESTMENT
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also joined Scott Stringer, the comptroller, in announcing Wednesday that the city’s five pension funds, which control about $189 billion in assets, intend to divest about $5 billion from more than 190 “fossil fuel reserve owners” within the next five years.
“It’s complex, it will take time, and there are going to be many steps, but we’re breaking new ground, and we are committed to forging a path forward while remaining laser-focused on our role as fiduciaries to the systems and beneficiaries we serve,” Stringer said in a written statement.
“Safeguarding the retirement of our city’s police officers, teachers and firefighters is our top priority, and we believe that their financial future is linked to the sustainability of the planet,” Stringer said.
Clara Vondrich of the DivestInvest campaign says the city joins a movement that started about six years ago. She says hundreds of institutional investors managing assets of over $5.5 trillion have taken their money out of fossil fuel investments.
Last month, Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to have the state pension funds also divest from fossil fuel investments. He and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli are creating an advisory committee to examine the way to proceed with divestment.
In November, Norway’s central bank urged the Norwegian government to consider divesting oil and gas company shares held in the $1 trillion oil fund.
Vondrich said other cities and entities divesting of fossil-fuel interests have included Washington, D.C., Berlin and Cape Town, South Africa; insurance companies Swiss Re, Axa and Allianz; and educational institutions such as the University of Oxford in Great Britain, Stanford University in California and Trinity College in Ireland.
Brian Youngberg, a senior energy analyst at Edward Jones Investments, noted such divestment is not entirely altruistic. Fossil-fuel securities are underperforming, and officials say the outlook for fossil-fuel investments continues to be negative.