Oil Companies in Court from California to France
Exxon Mobil Sues CARB Over Corporate Climate Disclosure Laws
Exxon Mobil filed a lawsuit against California for its corporate climate disclosure laws SB 253 and SB 261 last week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. Exxon alleges the state laws violate their First Amendment rights and asks the court to strike down the laws before the upcoming 2026 reporting deadlines.
SB 253 and SB 261: The bills require qualifying reporting entities to disclose their scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions and to release a public climate-related financial risk report. The bills aim to discourage corporate greenwashing.
Exxon in the hot seat: Exxon claims the bills seek to “place disproportionate blame” and publicly shame large companies like ExxonMobil by requiring reports of global emissions, which they claim will be “misleading and misguided.” In addition, the complaint states the bills force Exxon to “engage in granular conjecture about unknowable future developments and to publicly disseminate that speculation on its website.”
Similar allegations: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others already filed a similar lawsuit against California in 2024. In July, the presiding U.S. District Judge did not grant the Chamber a preliminary injunction as the “plaintiffs [had] not shown a likelihood of success on the merits” of their First Amendment claims.
Pattern detected: Michael Gerrard, founder of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, notes this lawsuit falls in line with Exxon’s historic “pattern of aggressively pushing back” against climate regulation. Nevertheless, Gerrard underlines the laws do not force Exxon to change its practices but rather require the company to report information. Exxon is “free to explain why [reported information may be misleading] so that readers can draw their own conclusions,” stated Gerrard.
What We’re Watching This Week
Last week, the Paris Judicial Court ruled the French oil company TotalEnergies committed “misleading commercial practices” and ordered the company to remove statements on its website in relation to its role in the energy transition and its environmental commitments to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. TotalEnergies must also post the court’s order on its website or face additional fines.
Greenwashing consequences: “The French justice system is finally tacking the impunity of fossil fuel greenwashing that Total has enjoyed until now. It sends a clear message: climate disinformation is not an acceptable strategy,” stated Justine Rippoll, campaigns manager at Notre Affaire à Tous, one of the NGOs who brought the case against Total alongside Greenpeace France and the Friends of the Earth France.