Stewart Muir – Examining the Evidence ... do climate lawsuits serve the interests of municipalities and local residents
Since January, 2017 a
campaign has been underway to hold fossil fuel companies financially
‘accountable’ for the effects of a changing climate on BC communities by taking
several actions including writing demand letters to the top 20 fossil fuel
companies and connecting with other cities to explore options for legal action
against such companies.
Through our work, we at Resource Works have given a lot of
thought to the idea of lawsuits and demand letters aimed at oil companies. Our
climate litigation objective: persuade provincial governments to change the law
to allow litigation against fossil fuel companies.
Problem is, there is no
sign that this could actually happen. Climate litigation favors conflict over
collaboration.
Climate Litigation
Strategy for Municipal Councils know that civic officials are continually
seeking the best path forward in times of change. This policy
brief sets out a few facts about the litigation campaign and proposes a
path to address climate concerns while working collaboratively with those who
are positioned to contribute to the solution.
The experience of other
municipal governments in recent years tells us that an adversarial and
legalistic approach will result in a poor outcome – not to mention significant
taxpayer-funded legal costs and distraction from more effective solutions.
Dividing residents on this issue is one approach, another is to unify residents
of the city, the province, and the country around values they share.
Setting aside the
adversarial campaigning, and focusing civic efforts on finding ways to work
together to address climate impacts, seems the most reasonable and most
productive way forward for communities in BC.
Communities are already doing
significant work towards ameliorating the impacts and effects of climate change
and these efforts shouldn’t be undermined or minimized to promote more
confrontational campaigns.
Local governments in
B.C. have to bring climate change into their long-term planning, but suing
fossil-fuel companies to recover costs would be a waste of time and money.
To read the full Report CLICK
HERE
Resource
Works communicates with British Columbians about the importance of the
province's resource sectors to their personal well-being. It demonstrates how
responsible development of British Columbia's resources creates jobs and
incomes throughout the province, both directly and indirectly, while
maintaining a clean and healthy environment.
And
Resource Works explores the long-term economic future of British Columbia as a
place that depends on the responsible development, extraction and
transportation of the province's resources.
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