The city of Toronto is considering taking oil companies to court over the costs of climate change. Several U.S. cities have launched similar lawsuits against producers of fossil fuels. And the western city of Victoria is going to ask a group of municipalities in its province of British Columbia to launch a similar class-action lawsuit.
Municipalities are concerned about climate-related costs of rising sea waters, extreme heat, extreme precipitation, wildfires and floods.
‘Massive damage’ cited by city councillors
“That’s really I think what’s motivating municipalities is they’re looking at this really mounting price tag and asking themselves ‘how are we going to pay for this.’ So, rather than just passing the costs on to their taxpayers they’re going to the polluters,” says Lynda Collins, a professor at The Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability at the University of Ottawa.
Toronto’s city council passed a motion calling for staff to report on the long-term costs of climate change and possible avenues of legal recourse against major emitters of greenhouse gases. The motion states that extreme weather is “already causing massive damage” to city infrastructure, homes, services and businesses.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada says that the Greater Toronto Area has had six “100-year Storms” since 2005.
The heavy rains in July 2013 caused flooding in Toronto’s subway systems and other damage estimated to cost the city $60 million, and insurance claims of $940 million reported by the Insurance Bureau of Canada. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)
Early lawsuits unsuccessful
The U.S. cities of New York and San Francisco tried but were unsuccessful in suing major oil companies over climate change. But this does not discourage Collins about future lawsuits.
“I think that they will ultimately succeed… Anytime you have a new wave of litigation like this, there’s often some defeats at the beginning.
“So for example, suits against the tobacco industry actually failed for the first 10 years or more. And it took some time for courts to kind of develop expertise and understand the nature of the claims. But ultimately, those tobacco claims were wildly successful. And in fact, the climate change litigation is modelled after those government lawsuits.”
Collins thinks that as the scientific evidence of oil companies’ contribution to climate change becomes stronger, more of them will likely settle this kind of claim. One contention is that big oil companies sought to thwart scientific evidence on climate change for decades
A sign society is ‘waking up,’ says professor
“I think that these lawsuits are really a sign of our changing time,” she says. “They’re a sign of a society that’s waking up to the need to prevent, mitigate and adapt to climate change. And I really think it’s just part of that broader process of transitioning to a more sustainable energy economy.”
With files from CBC and The Canadian Press.
Prof. Lynda Collins says city lawsuits against oil companies may not succeed at first, but likely will eventually.
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