Hawaii marches big oil companies to court to recover costs due to climate change impact

A lawsuit by the city of Honolulu (together with some local agencies), seeking financial damages, was brought in March 2020 against big oil, Sunoco, Shell and others, claiming they knowingly misled its city residents on the relationship between oil, gas and the climate. The claim is that they knew of the link between the products they sell and climate change but have done nothing to alert the public and alleviate the impact. The lawsuit is seeking damages for costs related to climate change, like beaches and infrastructure repairs, and others associated with the health, safety and well-being of citizens. The Supreme Court of Hawaii, where the case was filed, ruled in 2023 that the trial could proceed. Before this ruling, the case was seen by observers as a novel move, mainly because climate issues were considered to be under the legal jurisdiction of the United States Federal Government, and had to be tried in a Federal Court, not in a State Court, and therefore, they thought the Hawaii court would find the plaintiff’s case unconstitutional. On appeal, unconstitutionality was in fact, the defendants’ main defense.

Reporting on the case, the Jurist News, jurist.org, claims that the lawsuit seeks to hold liable what it considers “an effort by large oil companies to deceive the general public about the environmental risks of greenhouse gases,” mainly in the form of public advertisements by the defendants. Jurist.org claims the court ruled that the case could proceed under the law of negligence and that the law of negligence, in the context of these kinds of cases, does not violate the Federal Government’s jurisdiction.

In October 2020, the Hawaiian Island of Maui also filed a lawsuit against Sunoco and other oil companies. Modeled after the Honolulu lawsuit and with a similar justification, the suit contends that citizens were being severely affected by climate change, which is caused by greenhouse gases emitted mainly through the use of the oil and gas the companies provide.

In an effort to block the decision of the Hawaii Supreme Court that allowed the Honolulu case to proceed, the defendants, led by Sunoco and Shell, appealed the ruling to the United States Supreme Court in January 2025, on unconstitutional grounds. However, United States Supreme Court declared its refusal to hear the case, and in effect validates the previous ruling of the Hawaii Supreme Court.

With knowledge that the State of Hawaii itself was planning a separate lawsuit against big oil companies, the United States (Federal) Justice Department preemptively filed a lawsuit in Federal court on 30th April 2025 against the State of Hawaii (and others), in an effort to quash this impending lawsuit, essentially using the same unconstitutionality argument previously used in the Supreme Court of Hawaii and the US Supreme Court. Disregarding the Justice Department’s lawsuit, the State of Hawaii filed its new lawsuit the next day, 1st May 2025, against ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips and Shell in a State Court in Hawaii. The fundamentals of this lawsuit are the same as the ones in Honolulu and Maui, but this is intended to have statewide implications, collectively covering the interests of the several islands, including recovering costs for climate change impacts on the State’s wildlife and environment.

As is stated by the Governor’s website, governor.hawaii.gov, the lawsuit against the companies is “for their deceptive conduct and failure to warn about their products’ climate change danger, now harming Hawaii’s public health, infrastructure, natural resources and economy.” Regarding the Federal Justice Department’s obstruction efforts, the Governor’s website states, “The use of the United States Department of Justice to fight on behalf of the fossil fuel industry is deeply disturbing and is a direct attack on Hawaii’s rights as a sovereign state.” It is probably fair to say that the Justice Department’s action must be seen in the context of the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and its general policy regarding climate change issues.

The lawsuit filed by the Justice Department in the Federal Court on 30th April 2025, against the State of Hawaii and in support of the big oil companies, was dismissed by the court in April 2026.

Trials in all three of the above court cases are pending.