Floods in Abbotsford last fall. An environmental law firm is urging BC municipalities to allocate $ 1 per inhabitant in an effort to raise money for a class action lawsuit against major oil companies. The campaign, launched on Tuesday as part of the Sue Big Oil Declaration, aims to reclaim a fair share of the costs of climate change in cities in the form of forest fires, floods and heat waves. “This industry has to take some responsibility for the products it has produced,” said Andrew Gage, a West Coast Environmental Law attorney. The campaign is also supported by various climate and environmental advocacy groups, including the Georgia Strait Alliance, Sum of Us and the Climate Emergency Unit. If the lawsuit is successful, the money will also be used to protect BC communities. from the effects of a future climate catastrophe. Between 1954 and 2010, only 90 companies were responsible for almost two-thirds of all fossil fuel emissions worldwide. This has prompted 20 municipal governments in the United States to sue fossil fuel companies for their role in aggravating climate change. But none of these cases have been judged, says Gage. One of the biggest legal victories for climate activists came last year, when a Dutch court called on Shell to take more aggressive action to reduce its emissions. More recently, a German court has allowed a Peruvian farmer to sue Germany’s largest electricity company for emitting seven billion tonnes of greenhouse gases over 156 years – a quantity that helped put his home at risk of flooding as a swollen alpine lake behind the melting glacier dam on the brink of failure. But it is unclear how such a lawsuit would unfold in Canada. Gage said that if the case goes to court, the legal team will eventually have to go back to the successful litigation against the tobacco, asbestos and pharmaceutical companies. “Where governments at different levels have gone and said, ‘You know, industry has to take responsibility for the damage they’ve done. “They knew their products were causing these effects.” To find a day in court, the campaign calls on BC residents to put pressure on local politicians – especially in the run-up to autumn elections – to unite cities under legal action. Gage says the one-time fund, one dollar per capita, is likely to bring the campaign closer to the $ 1 million required to cover legal costs through the team action certification process. “One dollar per person allows municipalities, even smaller ones, to say, ‘You know, we’re interested in participating.’ “It is a reasonable amount if they raise their resources,” said the lawyer. In the past, some municipalities of BC. – including the cities of Vancouver, Victoria and Port Moody – have passed resolutions considering legal options to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the damage caused by climate change. Other municipalities of 24 BC. have passed resolutions to send letters to fossil fuel companies asking them to share the costs of climate change in their communities. The call to raise one dollar per inhabitant for legal fees is intended to push municipalities beyond the study of choice and actually sue. “We are looking for municipalities to put something on the table to show their interest,” said Gage, whose company is in the early stages of a possible lawsuit and has no expectation of representing municipalities in court. Canadian courts have never dealt with class action lawsuits against fossil fuel companies for their role in exacerbating climate change. And there are clearly some unanswered legal questions Gage, however, said he was confident there was a solid legal basis for bringing the case to court. He is not alone. In 2019, 28 Canadian law teachers wrote an open letter in support of municipalities seeking such legal action. Such a lawsuit would be new in the same way that the first cases were created in the past for indigenous rights, gay marriage or claims for compensation from tobacco and asbestos companies, legal experts wrote. And like these cases, it would be difficult to judge whether it will succeed. “However, this does not mean that such a lawsuit can not be won or that local governments should not explore its possibilities,” they wrote. “In our view, the existing legal principles could be a solid basis for a lawsuit filed by a local government against fossil fuel companies for local climate costs.” They pointed out the differences and how it may be necessary to protect taxpayers from huge public costs associated with damaged infrastructure, dealing with emergencies and disaster relief. “These costs will increase dramatically,” they wrote.
