Climate change goes to court
It was set up to be the showdown of the century.
San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., had filed lawsuits against five of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies seeking damages to cover the costs of mitigating the effects of climate change. And US District Judge William Alsup, the judge presiding over the consolidated cases, had requested a “tutorial” on climate science – from both sides. The Bay Area cities enlisted three top climate scientists. Just one person from among the five defendants (BP, the Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell) chose to present: the lawyer from Chevron.
The lawyer took the stand on March 21. And it quickly became apparent that no dramatic courtroom showdown would happen that day.
“From Chevron’s perspective there’s no debate about climate science,” said Theodore Boutrous Jr., declaring that humans are indeed playing a significant role in causing climate change. That's a
Stretching the bounds of the courtA matter of tone'People want somebody to take responsibility'