As federal officials negotiate climate legislation, what are state and local leaders across the country doing to hold accountable the corporations whose products and decades-long campaigns of deception played a leading role in creating the climate crisis? Since 2017, five states, 20 municipalities, and the District of Columbia have turned to the courts to make ExxonMobil and other major fossil fuel companies pay for the local climate damages these polluters knew their products would cause, as well as hold them accountable for years of lying to the American public and policymakers about climate science and their role in climate change. The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a ruling in one such lawsuit, from the City of Baltimore, and declined to consider another. Join Alyssa Johl, Legal Director for the Center for Climate Integrity, and Anthony Moffa, an environmental attorney and Associate Professor of Law at the University of Maine School of Law, to learn about the status of climate accountability lawsuits, the arguments they make, and the case for climate accountability in Maine.
