Can Lawsuits Bring Down Big Oil? The Legal Battle for Climate Accountability
Explore how climate lawsuits are challenging fossil fuel giants and changing the fight against global warming.
As the climate crisis intensifies, governments, communities, and individuals are increasingly turning to the courts, launching lawsuits against the world’s largest oil and gas companies. These legal actions seek to hold Big Oil accountable for decades of alleged misinformation, public deception, and the resulting catastrophic consequences of fossil fuel emissions. But can the courtroom become the stage where the fossil fuel industry is finally forced to reckon with its climate legacy?
The Surge of Climate Lawsuits
Over the last decade, a wave of civil lawsuits has swept through courts from Honolulu to Hoboken, each case seeking to assign financial and moral responsibility to major petroleum producers for their role in global warming. As of 2024, at least 32 lawsuits from states, municipalities, and tribal nations target industry giants like ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips, demanding compensation for climate-linked damages that total into the billions of dollars.
- Plaintiffs: State attorneys general, counties, cities, tribal governments, and—most recently—individual citizens.
- Defendants: The world’s largest oil and gas companies (“Big Oil”).
- Main Allegations: Decades of concealing climate science, misleading the public, and failing to warn about known risks of fossil fuel consumption.
This surge reflects growing frustration with the slow pace of political action and regulatory gridlock on climate change. As federal law and international diplomacy stall, plaintiffs seek new remedies through state courts, wielding legal strategies that previously targeted the tobacco and opioid industries.
Key Legal Arguments: Misinformation and Damages
Lawsuits against Big Oil are grounded in a powerful narrative: that fossil fuel companies knowingly fueled the climate crisis while deceiving both governments and the public about the dangers of greenhouse gas emissions. The main legal strategies include:
- Public Nuisance: Claiming that fossil fuel-driven climate change constitutes an unlawful interference with public rights.
- Fraud and Misrepresentation: Alleging that oil companies mounted disinformation campaigns to sow doubt about climate science.
- Consumer Protection: Arguing that companies violated state laws by misleading customers about the environmental impacts of their products.
- Failure to Warn: Accusing companies of not disclosing known dangers associated with their products.
- Wrongful Death: Asserting liability for deaths linked to extreme climate events attributed to fossil fuel emissions.
Underlying these claims is an extensive record of internal industry documents—some made public through investigative journalism—that show oil companies predicted the catastrophic effects of climate change decades ago, even as they publicly downplayed the dangers.
The Historic First: Individual Climate Victim Sues Big Oil
In 2023, a lawsuit brought by the estate of Juliana Leon marked a dramatic escalation: for the first time, an individual filed a wrongful death lawsuit against oil companies, a move that personalizes the growing tide of climate litigation.
“This is the first case that is directly making the connection between the misconduct and lies of big oil companies and a specific, personalized tragedy,” said Aaron Regunberg, accountability director for Public Citizen’s climate program.
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Leon died during the deadly 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome—an event scientists say would have been almost impossible absent human-driven climate change. The lawsuit accuses oil giants of not only failing to warn about the risks but also deliberately accelerating the crisis to protect business, with catastrophic results. Plaintiff claims include wrongful death, public nuisance, and a demand for corrective public education campaigns.
Pushing Legal Frontiers: Climate Homicide?
Some legal theorists are now going further, arguing that oil companies could be prosecuted criminally for what they dub “climate homicide.” This novel legal theory, detailed by scholars David Arkush and Donald Braman, proposes that prosecutors could charge oil companies with homicide for climate disaster deaths resulting from corporate deception about emissions.
- Rather than relying on complex and slow-moving civil litigation, “climate homicide” could offer a more direct route to criminal accountability.
- Authors argue criminal prosecution brings the scale and severity of the harm into sharper public focus than even fraud convictions could.
- Main barriers are identified as political and cultural resistance, and the entrenched power of the oil industry.
Though the idea is provocative and faces steep practical obstacles, the theory is gaining attention from legal scholars and some prosecutors interested in novel climate accountability pathways.
Why Lawsuits? The Political and Regulatory Backdrop
Litigation has become a critical tool as traditional climate regulation faces increasing roadblocks:
- Federal environmental agencies like the EPA are restricted by the courts from enacting tougher controls on greenhouse gas emissions.
- The Supreme Court has repeatedly sided with industry defendants in procedural disputes, making federal regulation an unreliable path for rapid climate action.
- At the state level, many officials and activists see the courtroom as a place to bypass political gridlock and force meaningful accountability.
The rise of climate litigation mirrors past public health battles against tobacco, asbestos, and opioids, where civil and criminal lawsuits exposed industry misconduct and changed public policy in ways legislation alone could not.
The Legal Hurdles: Jurisdiction, Evidence, and Power
Plaintiffs face formidable obstacles in their quest to hold Big Oil accountable:
- Jurisdictional Challenges: Oil companies have repeatedly tried to move state lawsuits to federal court, where claims could be weakened or dismissed due to federal regulations like the Clean Air Act. Most cases have been bogged down in years of procedural wrangling.
- Proof of Causation: Demonstrating a direct link between a corporation’s actions and specific climate harms remains legally and scientifically complex. Reliance on “attribution science” is growing, but remains contested territory.
- Industry Resources: Big Oil wields immense legal and financial power, allowing for prolonged litigation and appeals. This has led to a years-long delay in most climate cases reaching trial.
- Political Influence: The fossil fuel industry maintains substantial sway over policymakers and public discourse, complicating efforts to impose accountability through the courts.
Despite these challenges, some cases are inching closer to trial, promising potentially dramatic developments in the coming years.
Can Lawsuits Transform the Oil Industry?
Supporters of climate litigation argue that civil and criminal lawsuits, even if not immediately successful, can have significant impacts:
- Public Accountability: Lawsuits generate publicity and force industry leaders to answer uncomfortable questions under oath.
- Document Disclosure: Legal discovery may unearth further evidence of corporate wrongdoing and internal climate science knowledge.
- Financial Remedy: Successful cases could require oil companies to pay damages, possibly funding climate adaptation and resilience projects for affected communities.
- Deterrence: The threat of future legal action may incentivize companies to accelerate the energy transition.
However, critics caution that lawsuits alone cannot “kill” Big Oil. The industry continues to wield vast economic and political resources, and legal accountability often takes years—even decades—to translate into systemic change. Still, for climate advocates, legal action represents a key front in the broader battle for climate justice.
Comparison Table: Civil vs. Criminal Climate Lawsuits
| Aspect | Civil Lawsuits | Criminal Prosecution |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Goal | Financial damages, public corrective action | Punishment, deterrence, moral condemnation |
| Plaintiffs | Governments, individuals, organizations | Prosecutors (on behalf of the state) |
| Burden of Proof | Preponderance of evidence | Beyond reasonable doubt |
| Punishments | Monetary awards, injunctions | Fines, restrictions, potential corporate dissolution |
| Public Perception | Corporate liability | Moral culpability, direct blame |
| Current Status | Dozens of active cases globally | Theoretical, no cases prosecuted—yet |
Global Implications and Next Steps
While the U.S. is currently the epicenter of climate litigation against Big Oil, similar cases are emerging worldwide. In the Netherlands, for example, courts ordered Shell to cut emissions in a major victory for climate plaintiffs. Elsewhere, legal and regulatory tools are being sharpened as climate disasters become more frequent and costly.
- Legal Precedent: Victories in one jurisdiction could spur action in others.
- Attribution Science Advances: Improved climate modeling is making it easier to assign liability for damages to specific emitters.
- Expanding Theories of Harm: Individual lawsuits—whether for wrongful death or property damages—may reshape what accountability looks like for the fossil fuel industry.
Ultimately, lawsuits offer a means for victims—including cities, states, and families—to seek justice and force an industry reckoning, even as the broader struggle to shift away from fossil fuels continues in legislatures and boardrooms around the world.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can lawsuits really bankrupt Big Oil?
No single lawsuit is likely to bankrupt oil majors, but a flood of successful claims could force companies to set aside massive sums for damages, denting profits and altering corporate behavior. The real goal is often to push for accountability and transparency, not immediate dissolution.
What is “climate homicide” and has it ever been prosecuted?
“Climate homicide” is a proposed legal theory wherein oil companies could face criminal prosecution for deaths caused by climate disasters linked to industry deception. While discussed in academic circles, no such prosecution has yet taken place.
Why do many lawsuits target state courts versus federal courts?
State courts offer more favorable grounds for plaintiffs as federal law, such as the Clean Air Act, may preempt or undermine climate claims. The oil industry frequently tries to move cases to federal courts to limit liability.
How do climate lawsuits compare to past tobacco litigation?
Both rely on exposing systemic misinformation and securing compensation for public health costs. The tobacco cases set a powerful precedent for using litigation to change industry practices and public policy.
Could individuals impacted by climate disasters file lawsuits?
Yes. The Juliana Leon case in Washington state is the first wrongful death climate lawsuit brought by an individual. As attribution science evolves, more families and individuals may pursue similar claims across the country and world.
Conclusion: Justice, Accountability, and the Future of Big Oil
While the legal system alone cannot resolve the climate crisis, the escalating wave of lawsuits against Big Oil is reshaping the landscape of accountability. Through exposures of internal industry knowledge, public debates over legal and moral responsibility, and the specter of both civil and—potentially—criminal penalties, the courts offer a vital venue in humanity’s urgent effort to address the climate emergency. Whether these lawsuits will ultimately transform the fossil fuel industry or merely force concessions remains to be seen, but their growing number and ambition make one thing clear: the era of unchallenged impunity for Big Oil is coming to an end.
References
- https://www.trails.umd.edu/news/climate-homicide-could-big-oil-be-sued-for-disaster-deaths
- https://www.climateinthecourts.com/big-oil-faces-first-wrongful-death-lawsuit-tied-to-climate-change-in-the-u-s/
- https://www.nhbr.com/after-a-long-slog-climate-change-lawsuits-will-finally-put-big-oil-on-trial/
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