Massachusetts Sues ExxonMobil For Climate Disinformation, Greenwashing

Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
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Massachusettsย filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil today over the company’s misinformation campaign to delay action to address climateย change.ย 

Attorney General Maura Healey told reporters in a press conference today that โ€œExxon has fought us every step of the way,โ€ and wasย โ€œcompletely uncooperative,โ€ noting that the company failed to comply with requests for documents andย depositions.ย 

โ€œExxon has yet to produce to our office a single document. They have yet to provide to our office a single witness. So they have been completely uncooperative with our investigation,โ€ Healey toldย reporters.

ExxonMobil misstated facts and failed to disclose important information to both consumers and investors, according to the complaint, filed today in Suffolk Superior Court by the attorney generalโ€™sย office.

โ€œExxon has known for decades about the catastrophic climate impacts of burning fossil fuelsโ€”its chief product,โ€ said AG Healey. โ€œYet, to this day, Exxon continues to deceive Massachusetts consumers and investors about the dangerous climate harms caused by its oil and gasoline products and the significant risks of climate changeโ€”and efforts to address itโ€”to Exxonโ€™s business.โ€

โ€œContrary to its shareholder representations and deceptive advertising and marketing, Exxonโ€™s products are a leading cause of climate change, not a solution. That deception, we allege, violates Massachusetts law, and thatโ€™s why we are suing. Our goal here is simple โ€“ to stop Exxon from engaging in this deception and penalize the company for this misconduct,โ€ Healey said.

Related: DeSmog’s profile onย ExxonMobil’s Funding of Climate Scienceย Denial

โ€œIn order to increase its short-term profits, stock price, and access to capital, ExxonMobil has been dishonest with investors about the material climate-driven risks to its business and with consumers about how its fossil fuel products cause climate changeโ€•all in violation of Massachusetts law,โ€ the complaint asserts. โ€œ[I]nternal ExxonMobil and other documents made public by the media and/or obtained during the course of the Attorney Generalโ€™s investigation reveal a systematic effort by the Company, reminiscent of the tobacco industryโ€™s long denial campaign about the dangerous effects of cigarettes, to mislead both investors and consumers inย Massachusetts.โ€

The complaint goes beyond ExxonMobilโ€™s activities decades ago. โ€œExxonMobil now tells investors all the time that climate change risks are a management priority for the Company,โ€ it continues. โ€œAnd yet, ExxonMobil deceptively disseminates long-term forecasts of future growth in demand for fossilย fuels.โ€

This pattern of deception, the AG argues, potentially wronged every driver who filled their tank at an ExxonMobil gas station and every investor who took the companyโ€™s assurances as made in good faith. For each individual consumer violation, Massachusetts law carries damages of up to $5,000. Healeyโ€™s office did not clarify precisely how much todayโ€™s lawsuit will seek from the oil giant inย total.

โ€œExxonโ€™s unlawful conduct,ย the complaint alleges, contributed to decades of delay in market recognition of the climate dangers of fossil fuel products and the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,โ€ the attorney generalโ€™s office added in a statement.

In the 1980โ€™s, the complaint alleges, Exxon, Mobil Oil and other corporations and oil, coal and car trade associations started to organize their response to a crisis that one Exxon consultant had warned could โ€œbring world economic growth to a haltโ€ by 2025.

Their collective response to climate science? To emphasize uncertainty and keep fossil fuelsย flowing.

Related: Read DeSmog’s revelation about Exxon’s advanced knowledge of climate impacts from fossil fuels โ€”ย โ€œThere is no doubtโ€: Exxon Knew CO2 Pollution Was A Global Threat By Lateย 1970s

Additional reporting by Sharonย Kelly.

Image: DeSmog

Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
Brendan is Executive Director of DeSmog. He is also a freelance writer and researcher specializing in media, politics, climate change and energy. His work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Huffington Post, Grist, The Washington Times and other outlets.

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