New Yorks borgmester. Bill de Blasio, har til hensigt at sagsøge fem olieselskaber for de skader, som klimaforandringerne forårsager i den kendte amerikanske by.
Det fremgår af en pressemeddelelse fra bystyret i New Yorks hjemmeside:
The City will be seeking damages from BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, and Royal Dutch Shell for the billions of dollars the City will spend to protect New Yorkers from the effects of climate change.
“New York City is standing up for future generations by becoming the first major US city to divest our pension funds from fossil fuels,” said Mayor de Blasio.
“At the same time, we’re bringing the fight against climate change straight to the fossil fuel companies that knew about its effects and intentionally misled the public to protect their profits. As climate change continues to worsen, it’s up to the fossil fuel companies whose greed put us in this position to shoulder the cost of making New York safer and more resilient.”
“Residents already paying the price”
Tiltaget glæder flere miljøorganisationer. Det gælder eksempelvis organisationen West Coast Environmental Law:
“New York City is the latest community to wake up to the fact that its residents – as victims of Hurricane Sandy and as taxpayers – are already paying the costs of climate change, while fossil fuel companies, which have made massive profits from the products that cause climate change, fail to pay their fair share,” said Andrew Gage, Staff Lawyer.
New York City joins San Francisco and several other U.S. local governments that have recently initiated litigation against fossil fuel companies for climate costs.
“The leadership of New York City, San Francisco and other U.S. local governments is an important challenge to Canadian local and provincial governments: How long are you going to pass the costs of climate change onto your taxpayers without demanding accountability from an industry that has benefited so much – and played such a large role – in causing climate change?” Gage said.
“A mighty win”
Den kendte miljøforkæmper, Bill McKibben, som er grundlægger af organisationen 350.org, er ligeledes henrykt. Han udtaler følgende i en skriftlig kommentar:
“Today we have news of a mighty win: one of the planet’s central cities has gone fully on the attack against the fossil fuel industry, which means the tide is finally turning in the climate fight.
Just an hour ago we stood with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio as he made two major announcements: New York’s pension funds will divest from the big oil and gas companies, and the city is suing the biggest of these corporations for the climate damage they’ve caused.
This is a huge moment in our fight to stop climate change. A city as iconic as New York could trigger a wave of action against the fossil fuel industry from other powerful cities and states around the U.S. and globally. For that to happen, we need each and every one of us to continue to demand change.”
