Who Will Pay for Global Warming?

Responsibility for global warming is hard to pinpoint. Now the State of California is suing the automobile industry for emissions from its cars. The fundamental question is: Who should pay for the impacts of global warming In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck a reef and spilled more than 450,000 tons (11 million gallons) of crude oil into the Gulf of Alaska. What followed was an unprecedented ecological disaster and a financial fiasco for the oil giant Exxon Mobil (then known as Exxon), which was forced to pay billions in settlements and clean-up costs after courts held it responsible for the damage that the spill caused. Eighteen years later, the State of California is suing some of the world's biggest car manufacturers for the damages that their cars' emissions are said to be causing to the state's economy, environment, and public health. When the lawsuit was filed last autumn, California State Attorney General Bill Lockyer said that emissions from cars made by six companies - General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Chrysler, Nissan, and Honda - accounted for 30 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions in the state. The damages sought by the state would likely reach "hundreds of millions" of dollars, he added.Given the importance of California, the world's eighth-biggest economy, the case's outcome could have a tremendous impact. Lawyer and co-director of the Climate Justice Programme Roda Verheyen considers it "crucial" in shaping the direction for future climate-related legal action internationally. "This is the first case worldwide where the court will have to look at concrete impacts and costs, and then decide whether it will hold the car companies at least partly responsible for those impacts," says Verheyen, who specializes in climate-related law at Hamburg firm Günther Heidel Wollenteit Hack. "It will be extremely closely watched by everyone in the legal profession and the climate community and by governments." Both the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform issued statements against the lawsuit. Institute for Legal Reform President Lisa A. Rickard called the state action "the epitome of a frivolous lawsuit."

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