Business
‘The Fraud of Advanced Recycling’
Big Oil and the plastics industry’s public claims about ‘advanced recycling’ are undermined by their own words and experts
13 May 2025
In a major victory for communities fighting to hold Big Oil companies accountable for their climate lies, the Colorado Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that will allow Boulder’s climate deception lawsuit against ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy to advance toward trial.
The ruling marks the third time that a state supreme court has ruled that one of a growing number of state and local climate deception lawsuits against ExxonMobil and other oil giants can proceed toward discovery and trial.
The top state courts in Hawai`i and Massachusetts have each previously rejected the fossil fuel industry’s attempts to stop climate deception lawsuits.
Earlier this year, the US Supreme Court denied Big Oil’s requests to review the Hawai`i Supreme Court decision.
The city and county of Boulder’s lawsuit, filed in 2018, seeks to make Exxon and Suncor pay for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change and knowingly fuelling the crisis. A similar lawsuit from San Miguel County, Colorado is proceeding separately.
In March, the Wall Street Journal reported that the oil industry is lobbying Congress for legal protections against climate accountability cases.
Nearly 200 advocacy groups — including the Center for Climate Integrity — have urged leaders in Congress to oppose those efforts.
‘Despite Big Oil’s ongoing efforts to escape accountability, the courts have once again sided with communities fighting to put these companies on trial for their climate lies and the massive damages they’ve caused. Every state supreme court to consider issues in these cases so far has rejected Big Oil’s arguments to escape trial, which is why the fossil fuel industry is now lobbying Congress to bail them out.
‘The people of Boulder have been fighting to have their case heard for seven years, all while suffering from the worsening effects of a climate crisis Big Oil knowingly fuelled. It’s time for Exxon and Suncor to face the evidence of their deception in court.’RICHARD WILES
President of the Center for Climate Integrity
Eleven attorneys general — in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai`i, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia — and dozens of city, county and tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington and Puerto Rico, have filed lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change.
These cases collectively represent more than one in four people living in the United States. Last year the attorney general of Michigan announced plans to take fossil fuel companies to court.
Big Oil and the plastics industry’s public claims about ‘advanced recycling’ are undermined by their own words and experts
Big Oil CEOs raised concerns about climate deception lawsuits and climate superfund laws in a White House meeting with President Trump, Wall Street Journal reports.
Nearly 200 groups call on Democratic leaders to oppose immunity for the fossil fuel industry.
‘The people of California deserve their day in court to hold Big Oil accountable’, Center for Climate Integrity says.
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