Facing climate lawsuits, Big Oil again turns to US Supreme Court

Suncor Energy (Canada)

30/09/2026 11:00

    * City of Boulder, Colorado, filed climate-related suit
    * Boulder accuses oil companies of driving climate change
    * City is seeking monetary damages from Exxon and Suncor
    * It is one of many such lawsuits by US jurisdictions
    * Ruling could affect dozens of similar US lawsuits

    By John Kruzel
       WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Facing potential
liability for harms related to climate change, major oil
companies have again turned to the US Supreme Court, teeing up a
case that could determine the fate of dozens of climate-related
lawsuits by state and local governments against fossil fuel
companies.
    The dispute involves a bid by ExxonMobil  XOM.N  and Suncor
Energy  SU.TO  to scuttle a lawsuit brought by officials in
Boulder, Colorado, seeking to hold the companies liable for
helping drive climate change and misleading the public about the
risks of fossil fuels.
    The case will be argued next Monday on the first day of the
court's new nine-month term. It marks the latest example of
energy-sector companies asking the justices to block
climate-related liability or limit federal environmental
regulation.
    Nearly 60 state and local governments have brought similar
suits seeking billions of dollars from fossil fuel companies,
with more continuing to be filed, Exxon and Suncor told the
justices. A ruling by the top US judicial body in favor of the
companies could lead to many of those cases being dismissed.
    President Donald Trump's administration has backed Exxon and
Suncor, arguing that federal law precludes Boulder's claims.
    "The stakes are enormous here. There are billions of damages
that are sought," attorney Deepak Gupta, who regularly argues
before the Supreme Court, said during a Georgetown Law preview
of the court's new term. "And the underlying subject here is
maybe the most consequential thing we could be litigating."
    Backers of the oil companies argue that if Boulder's most
far-reaching claims are allowed to proceed, it could give states
sweeping power over conduct occurring far outside their borders.
    Saikrishna Prakash, a University of Virginia law professor
who filed a brief supporting the companies, said the
implications would reach well beyond Exxon and Suncor.
    "If Boulder can attach liability to these two companies, I
think it can attach liability to thousands of others as well,"
Prakash said during a preview of the case hosted by George Mason
University's Antonin Scalia Law School. "Essentially, Boulder
claims that Colorado can reach around the United States (and)
regulate production everywhere by attaching liability to it."
     
    INDUSTRY TRACK RECORD
    Energy companies and trade groups, along with states allied
with them, have built a largely winning record before the
justices over the past two decades in cases involving climate
liability and the reach of federal environmental regulation.
    One key setback for them came in a 2007 ruling, however,
when the court ruled that greenhouse gases qualify as air
pollutants under the Clean Air Act, a landmark federal
anti-pollution law, and that the Environmental Protection Agency
has authority to regulate them.
    The burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases
including carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, trapping heat and
raising average global temperatures over time.
    The energy sector gained a major victory in 2011 when the
Supreme Court blocked states and environmental groups from suing
under federal law to seek court-ordered reductions in carbon
emissions from power companies.
    Climate plaintiffs responded by turning to lawsuits brought
under state laws. Oil companies repeatedly have asked the
Supreme Court to block or redirect a growing wave of state-law
climate suits.
    In a 2021 ruling involving Baltimore, the court sided with
BP  BP.L , Chevron  CVX.N , Exxon and other energy companies on
a procedural issue governing appeals over whether climate cases
belong in state or federal court. The decision aided companies
seeking to move such cases into federal court, generally viewed
as a more favorable venue for them.
    That procedural issue first brought the Boulder case to the
Supreme Court in 2023, when it left in place a lower court's
ruling returning the lawsuit to state court. Justice Samuel
Alito took no part in consideration of the case at that time and
has recused from participating in the current dispute. Alito
owns stock in several oil and gas companies but not Exxon or
Suncor, according to his financial disclosure forms.
     
    MONETARY DAMAGES SOUGHT
    The Boulder case involves whether federal law precludes
certain state-law claims seeking damages for harms allegedly
caused by the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. The justices
also directed the parties to address whether the court has
jurisdiction to decide the case at this stage.
    Boulder's city and county governments sued Exxon and Suncor
in 2018, accusing them of misleading the public about the
climatic effects of fossil fuels while continuing to promote and
sell their products. The companies deny wrongdoing.
    The plaintiffs seek unspecified monetary damages to help
cover past and future costs associated with climate change,
including infrastructure repairs, environmental damage,
emergency management and harms to public health.
    "Local communities are living with the mounting costs of
climate change," Aaron Brockett, mayor of the city of Boulder,
said after the court announced it would hear the case. "The
Supreme Court should affirm Colorado's right to hold these
companies accountable for the harm they have caused in
Colorado."
    The companies urged lower courts to dismiss the case,
arguing among other things that Boulder's claims intrude on an
area governed by federal law and the Clean Air Act. The Colorado
Supreme Court rejected these arguments last year, prompting the
companies to appeal to the US Supreme Court.
     

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    US Supreme Court's Alito won't participate in climate case
involving oil companies     ID:nL1N45K0R9 
    US Supreme Court to hear bid by oil companies to toss
climate suits     ID:nL1N3ZJ0OM 
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
    (Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham)
((mailto:John.Kruzel@thomsonreuters.com;))