The state just sued the oil giant for its alleged role in deceiving the public about the plastic pollution crisis.
In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, California alleges ExxonMobil deceived the public into thinking “that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible.” The company is the largest oil and gas company based in the US, America's third largest by revenue among all industries, and the eighth largest in the world.
In a report from earlier this year, the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) found that plastic producers knew for decades that recycling was too difficult and expensive, but promoted it as a “solution” anyway.
CCI’s president called California’s lawsuit the “most important legal action to date in the global fight against plastic pollution.” It comes hot on the heels of CCI's survey that revealed that the majority of voters in America support holding the plastics and fossil fuel industries accountable for allegedly deceiving the public about the feasibility of recycling. It concluded that "If that investigation results in a lawsuit, it would be the first of its kind, and our findings show the public would support it.”
70 percent of participants said they felt strongly that the plastics industry should be held accountable for the worldwide plastic waste crisis, with 59 percent responding that the fossil fuel industry should as well.
While the lawsuit will still have to play out in court, it’s encouraging news that states are working to hold companies like ExxonMobil accountable for their actions in exacerbating public health and environmental crises like plastic pollution and ultimately, climate change.