After a three-year probe and amid mounting demands that the fossil fuel industry be held accountable for driving the climate crisis, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood on October 24 against ExxonMobil, the world鈥檚 largest oil and gas company.
The suit accuses the oil giant of defrauding investors by downplaying the financial threat of regulations crafted to mitigate human-caused global warming.
鈥淏ig oil may finally face some consequences for its role in wrecking the climate,鈥 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben.
The details years of troubling actions by Exxon鈥檚 leaders 鈥 including former CEO Rex Tillerson, who more than 40 years at the company prior to his as the President Donald Trump鈥檚 first secretary of state.
In 2015, the and reported that the company had 鈥渃onducted cutting-edge climate research decades ago and then, without revealing all that it had learned, worked at the forefront of climate denial鈥.
Since those reports, Exxon has been named in multiple climate liability lawsuits brought by , , and officials across the country as advocacy groups and the public have increasingly pressured politicians to hold oil and gas companies accountable for contributing to the climate crisis and lying about the devastating long-term impacts of dirty energy.
Exxon鈥檚 鈥渃olossal climate denial operation鈥 鈥 which was also in a Harvard study published last year 鈥斺渟ignificantly impacted how the climate change debate played out in business, science, and politics,鈥 noted Naomi Ages of Greenpeace USA.
Richard Wiles, executive director of the Center for Climate Integrity, observed: 鈥淐limate change deception is central to Exxon's business model.鈥 The company pocketed immense profits while it 鈥渂ankrolled a 30-year, multi-million denial campaign, manufacturing doubt about climate science when it knew there was none鈥.
As Exxon continues to make money from oil and gas production, coastal communities are facing the mounting financial and environmental costs of the climate crisis.
[Abridged from .]