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British Columbia oil companies environment class action overview:
- Who: Environmental advocates in British Columbia are pushing a plan to take oil companies to court for their role in climate change.
- Why: The impact of climate change in British Columbia has been dire with wildfires and flooding.
- Where: The plan is being developed in British Columbia.
Amid a year of environmental devastation in British Columbia due to climate change, advocates are calling on British Columbians and local governments to back a plan to take oil companies to court for their role in global warming.
On June 15, West Coast Environmental Law launched its “Sue Big Oil” campaign, which asks people to sign a declaration encouraging municipalities to give $1 per resident to go toward a class action lawsuit against fossil fuel companies, CBC reports.
Lawyer Andrew Gage, who works for West Coast Environmental Law, tells CBC that suing big oil companies would not only provide communities with much-needed funds to help deal with the effects of climate change, but it would also encourage them to change their business practices.
“Companies that are destroying our communities, destroying our atmosphere are profitable because they are not bearing their fair share of the costs,” Gage says in an interview. “That changes the moment a lawsuit is filed because they have to start notifying their investors, their shareholders of the risks associated with that litigation.”
British Columbia experiences year of environmental devastation
In the past year, a wildfire that destroyed the Village of Lytton cost insurance companies an estimated $102 million, CBC reports. Just months later, major flooding in the province caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.
On top of the financial damage, 600 people lost their lives because of extreme heat caused by climate change in 2021.
A 2020 investigation from The Guardian suggested 20 fossil fuel companies were responsible for one-third of carbon emissions worldwide.
West Vancouver and Victoria have already sent letters to fossil fuel companies asking them to pay for climate-related costs. The companies have largely done nothing in response, Gage says in the interview with CBC.
“The next logical step is to actually say, OK, if you’re not going to take responsibility and act in a responsible manner on your own, we’re going to actually be going to court,” he says.
There is precedent for lawsuits against fossil fuel companies.
In 2020, an environmental advocacy group in the Netherlands filed a lawsuit against oil giant Shell for its role in the climate crisis and won.
According to West Coast Environmental Law, 20 local governments in the U.S. are currently suing fossil fuel companies for their contributions to climate change.
And in 2020, a judge threw out a climate change lawsuit launched against Canada by a group of teenagers accusing the government of contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and threatening the lives of younger generations.
What do you think about suing oil companies for climate change? Let us know in the comments!
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One thought on Law firm asks British Columbians to back oil company environmental class action
I agree!