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NYC loses lawsuit over Big Oil's 'greenwashing' at gasoline pumps
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Jan 16, 2025
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Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Jan 16, 2025
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A Manhattan judge has dismissed New York City’s lawsuit seeking to hold oil and gas companies accountable for misleading statements about the environmental benefits of their products.
The ruling issued by Justice Anar Rathod Patel on Tuesday amounts to yet another legal defeat in a nationwide effort by local and state governments to sue large polluters. In 2019, state Attorney General Letitia James’ office lost a case alleging ExxonMobil had misled shareholders about the cost of climate change to its business. In November, James’ office lost a lawsuit that sought to hold PepsiCo liable for litter accumulating on the banks of the Buffalo River.
The new ruling came in a case initiated by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. It centered on ExxonMobil, BP and Shell’s alleged “greenwashing” of the gasoline they sell by minimizing its harm to the environment. But Patel wrote in his ruling that there was a fundamental flaw to the city’s arguments about the harm caused by the alleged misleading statements about climate change.
“The city cannot have it both ways by, on one hand, asserting that consumers are aware of and commercially sensitive to the fact that fossil fuels cause climate change, and, on the other hand, that the same consumers are being duped by defendants’ failure to disclose that their fossil fuel products emit greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change,” Patel wrote.
Over the past year, large oil companies received favorable rulings on similar claims in Delaware and Maryland. About 30 climate cases are still pending in state courts, including in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
“Today’s dismissal of New York City’s climate lawsuit is a clear indication that courts in New York and around the country are continuing to see through these allegations and that neither the law, nor commonsense, subjects energy producers and sellers to liability for climate change,” wrote Phil Goldberg, a lawyer for the Manufacturers’ Accountability Project. The group, which is backed by manufacturers around the country, says it advocates against legal efforts to transform “ environmental public policy matters into state court public nuisance and consumer protection lawsuits.”
Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesperson for the city's Law Department, gave no indication of whether the department planned to appeal the decision.
“Our complaint alleged that these defendants spent millions to mislead consumers to think that they, and their products, contribute to a clean energy future. They do not,” Paolucci said in a statement. “Companies that violate the city’s consumer protection laws should be held fully accountable. New Yorkers deserve no less.”
The city’s suit, filed in 2021, had highlighted the corporate language plastered all over gas pumps. BP promoted an “Invigorate” fuel additive with environmental benefits. Shell’s “Nitrogen Enriched Cleaning System” claimed to produce less emissions. And ExxonMobil advertised fuel that contained more detergents than required by the EPA. The city did not argue the claims were false, but rather that they were misleading because the companies did not state the products still contributed to climate change.
“Ultimately, these greenwashing campaigns mislead environmentally conscious consumers into supporting defendants’ products and services under the false impression that they are prioritizing sustainability,” the city claimed in court documents.
The ruling comes as large corporations are expected to file more lawsuits challenging new climate laws. Gothamist previously reported on state legislators’ preparation for a lawsuit challenging a new “Superfund law” forcing New York’s biggest polluters to fund climate resiliency projects. Gov. Kathy Hochul is also reportedly expected to pursue implementation of a “cap and invest” program imposing separate fines on polluters who exceed emissions limits.
Those new laws will almost certainly target the oil giants named in the city's failed lawsuit.
According to the United Nations, coal, oil and gas are “by far the largest contributor to global climate change, accounting for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions.”
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Health and Science
Rosemary Misdary
Rosemary is health & science reporter. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 646-544-9524.
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