(New York) New York City filed a lawsuit Thursday against big oil companies ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP, accusing them of “misleading” consumers by “exaggerating their investments in clean energy.”
–
–
The 97-page complaint also accuses them of “amplifying the benefits for the climate” of products linked to natural gas, biofuels or hydrogen.
She also accuses companies, as well as the powerful professional federation of the API sector, of “misrepresenting” the climate impacts of fossil fuels.
Fighting against climate change also means “attacking some of the biggest polluting companies for false advertising and greenwashing”, justified the mayor of the City, Bill de Blasio, in a press release.
The complaint was filed on the opening day of the virtual climate summit hosted by US President Joe Biden.
“When oil companies present their products with words like ‘greener’ or ‘cleaner’, while failing to disclose the real effects of these products, it undermines the ability of consumers to make informed decisions,” said Lorelei Salas, of the City’s Consumer and Worker Protection Department.
This is not the first time that New York has taken on the oil industry giants.
The town hall lodged a complaint in January 2018 against BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell for their responsibilities in climate change, a complaint dismissed on appeal in early April.
New York City also lost a lawsuit against ExxonMobil at the end of 2019, which it accused of having misled investors by wrongly claiming to fully integrate the risks of tightening laws on greenhouse gas emissions in its projections. long term.
–
