What role should courts have in fighting climate change?
A federal trial pitting two cities against major oil companies took a surprising turn when an oil company lawyer largely confirmed the science that connects the burning of oil to climate change damages—but not the blame.
The case in San Francisco is weighing the question of whether climate change damages, including increasingly frequent droughts, floods, and other extreme weather, connected to the burning of oil are specifically the fault of the companies that extract and sell it.
The judge in People of the State of California v. BP P.L.C. et al. had both the plaintiffs—the cities of Oakland and San Francisco—and the defendants—several major oil companies—answer basic questions about climate change in a tutorial format.
Katharine Mach, a senior research scientist at the Stanford University School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Science, and Deborah Sivas, professor of environmental law, gave their perspectives on the climate tutorial, the science in question, and the role of the judiciary in confronting climate change challenges.
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