Has Suncor Seen the Climate Crisis Coming for 61 Years? | The Tyee: Did Canada’s largest oil producer learn about climate change as early as 1959, develop a massive bitumen industry in northern Alberta knowing the atmospheric damage it would cause, and then take part in an international effort throughout the 1990s and 2000s to convince the public that climate change isn’t real?

Those questions are now at the heart of a closely-watched lawsuit filed against Suncor in the state of Colorado, which earlier this month cleared an important legal hurdle.

Now it’s up to a judge to determine whether the lawsuit, which also names Exxon as a defendant, can move beyond procedural wrangling into the first phases of an actual trial. Such a trial has the potential to set a transformative legal precedent: for the first time ever assigning legal blame for climate change to oil and gas companies in a U.S. court while holding those companies accountable for undermining life-saving science.

Has Suncor Seen the Climate Crisis Coming for 61 Years? | The Tyee: Did Canada’s largest oil producer learn about climate change as early as 1959, develop a massive bitumen industry in northern Alberta knowing the atmospheric damage it would cause, and then take part in an international effort throughout the 1990s and 2000s to convince the public that climate change isn’t real?Those questions are now at the heart of a closely-watched lawsuit filed against Suncor in the state of Colorado, which earlier this month cleared an important legal hurdle.Now it’s up to a judge to determine whether the lawsuit, which also names Exxon as a defendant, can move beyond procedural wrangling into the first phases of an actual trial. Such a trial has the potential to set a transformative legal precedent: for the first time ever assigning legal blame for climate change to oil and gas companies in a U.S. court while holding those companies accountable for undermining life-saving science.Read More

Canada Flunks Climate Test with ‘Policy Full of Loopholes’ for Assessing New Projects – The Energy Mix:

“The government has just made it
harder for Canada to get on the right pathway to reach our target of
becoming net-neutral by 2050,” Julia Levin, climate and energy program
manager at Toronto-based Environmental Defence, said
in a release. “It is inconsistent to commit to a green recovery and
serious climate action while simultaneously failing to put in place a
mechanism to ensure that only projects that are consistent with those
goals are built.”

Canada Flunks Climate Test with ‘Policy Full of Loopholes’ for Assessing New Projects – The Energy Mix: “The government has just made it
harder for Canada to get on the right pathway to reach our target of
becoming net-neutral by 2050,” Julia Levin, climate and energy program
manager at Toronto-based Environmental Defence, said
in a release. “It is inconsistent to commit to a green recovery and
serious climate action while simultaneously failing to put in place a
mechanism to ensure that only projects that are consistent with those
goals are built.”Read More