Holding Fossil Fuel Companies Accountable for their Contribution to Climate Change: Where Does the Law Stand?

Authors

Michael Burger, Columbia Law School, Sabin Center for Climate Change LawFollow
Jessica A. Wentz, Columbia Law School, Sabin Center for Climate Change LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/00963402.2018.1533217

Abstract

The judge who called for a climate tutorial in a federal court in San Francisco accepted the science that says that human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide play the central role in rising average global temperatures, increased sea levels, and coastal flooding – but threw out a lawsuit calling for financial reparations from the oil companies for causing these problems. Why? And what might the decision mean for other cases in other states, along similar lines, that are still in the works? Two environmental lawyers, one of whom was in the courtroom for the tutorial, explain.

Disciplines

Environmental Law | Law

Recommended Citation

Michael Burger & Jessica A. Wentz, Holding Fossil Fuel Companies Accountable for their Contribution to Climate Change: Where Does the Law Stand?, 74 Bull. Atom. Sci. 397 (2018).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/sabin_climate_change/78

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