{"id":7986,"date":"2019-03-20T23:46:42","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T03:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/?p=7986"},"modified":"2025-07-16T14:22:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T18:22:15","slug":"oil-companies-just-gave-toronto-6ix-reasons-to-sue-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/story\/7986\/oil-companies-just-gave-toronto-6ix-reasons-to-sue-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil companies just gave Toronto 6ix Reasons to Sue. Here&#8217;s Why."},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 1280px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-7986-1\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/03\/2-Min-Video-Final_31.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/03\/2-Min-Video-Final_31.mp4\">https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/03\/2-Min-Video-Final_31.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the 5 years that I\u2019ve lived in Toronto, like millions of my fellow Torontonians, I\u2019ve gone through heat waves, floods and wind storms. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition to the emotional and health-related distress we \u00a0experience when these kind of disasters happen, our city also experiences financial distress. A single weather disaster cost us nearly a billion dollars in damage\u2026 and climate change will only make things worse.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8000\" style=\"width: 395px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8000\" class=\" wp-image-8000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/03\/d862f965-flooded-go-train-and-emergency-rescue-in-2013-copyright-tom-ryaboi-_-greenpeace-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"385\" height=\"256\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/03\/d862f965-flooded-go-train-and-emergency-rescue-in-2013-copyright-tom-ryaboi-_-greenpeace-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/03\/d862f965-flooded-go-train-and-emergency-rescue-in-2013-copyright-tom-ryaboi-_-greenpeace-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/03\/d862f965-flooded-go-train-and-emergency-rescue-in-2013-copyright-tom-ryaboi-_-greenpeace-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/03\/d862f965-flooded-go-train-and-emergency-rescue-in-2013-copyright-tom-ryaboi-_-greenpeace-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2019\/03\/d862f965-flooded-go-train-and-emergency-rescue-in-2013-copyright-tom-ryaboi-_-greenpeace-510x340.jpg 510w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 385px) 100vw, 385px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-8000\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Flooded GO train evacuated by police boats during 2013 floods.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who should help pay for these climate change-related costs is a question that cities across North America are struggling with. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It turns out, one of <\/span><b>Toronto&#8217;s best opportunity for keeping the city safe and resilient has been hiding in plain sight: the oil companies that knowingly created the climate crisis.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Here are 6 evidence-based reasons why the City of Toronto should explore legal action against oil companies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that could hold them financially responsible for the costs of the climate crisis they helped create.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/act.gp\/2Fvcdsx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Ask Toronto City Council to hold big polluters financially accountable for climate change-related costs.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>#1. Climate change is impacting Toronto now, and it\u2019s going to get worse.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the City of Toronto\u2019s own assessment, we already have a \u201chotter, wetter, and wilder\u201d Toronto due to climate change [1]. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plus, the City\u2019s Medical Officer of Health [2]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the Canadian Medical Association [3]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have identified climate change as an important health concern, increasing risks related to heat waves, air pollution, mental health and more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>#2. Dealing with climate impacts is expensive \u2026 and insurance won\u2019t cover it all.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The July 2013 storm resulted in over $850 million in insurance claims, making it the most expensive disaster in Ontario\u2019s history [4].<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> And, the Insurance Bureau of Canada estimates that for every dollar in insured damages to homes and businesses, governments must spend three dollars to repair infrastructure [5].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>#3. A few big polluters are responsible for the lion\u2019s share of greenhouse gas emissions.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New research has shown that the largest 25 fossil fuel producers are responsible for the majority of the world\u2019s human-caused greenhouse gas pollution since 1988 [6].<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> That list contains big multinational and state-owned oil companies like Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil, Shell and BP.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>#4. Oil polluters knew their products would cause climate change, but tried to deceive us.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oil companies have known that burning fossil fuels would lead to climate change for at least 50 years. They spent millions to deceive the public and policymakers as part of a sophisticated, decades-long effort to delay and prevent action to reduce the demand for their products [7].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>#5. Other cities are suing oil companies over climate costs.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over a dozen cities, states and counties in the United States, including New York, San Francisco and Baltimore, are suing oil companies for their role in global warming-related damages [8].<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In Canada, 20 local governments have sent climate accountability letters to 20 of the world\u2019s largest fossil fuel companies, asking these companies to pay a fair share of local costs [9].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>#6. Fairness and accountability: Finding Big Oil\u2019s missing fair share.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">History shows that those who mislead the public, the market, or the government about the risks of their products, or the availability of safer alternatives, can face substantial legal liability. Tobacco companies are paying over US$200 billion in the United States to cover tobacco-related health care costs [10]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and are being sued for CDN$50 billion in Ontario [11]. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just like Big Tobacco, Big Oil hid what they knew about the harms caused by their products and they should pay their fair share of the costs. The more our local government has to spend cleaning up after climate-fuelled disasters, the less money there will be to invest in the things that make our lives better \u2014 like better public transit, affordable housing and social services.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If, like me, you want a safer and more resilient city, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/act.gp\/2Fvcdsx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>email Toronto City Council and ask them to explore legal options to make Big Oil pay their fair share of climate change-related costs.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Together, we can make it happen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Priyanka,<\/p>\n<p>Legal counsel &#8211; Greenpeace Canada<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 10px;\">1. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/8e13-180503_Final_PRA_summary_vDIGITAL.pdf\">https:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/8e13-180503_Final_PRA_summary_vDIGITAL.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 10px;\">2. City of Toronto (15 November 2016). URL: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/legdocs\/mmis\/2017\/pe\/bgrd\/backgroundfile-99379.pdf\">https:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/legdocs\/mmis\/2017\/pe\/bgrd\/backgroundfile-99379.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 10px;\">3. Canadian Medical Association (7 December 2018). URL: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cma.ca\/its-public-health-emergency-cma-board-member-authors-lancet-report-health-impacts-climate-change\">https:\/\/www.cma.ca\/its-public-health-emergency-cma-board-member-authors-lancet-report-health-impacts-climate-change<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 10px;\">4. Natural Resources Canada (2017). URL:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nrcan.gc.ca\/sites\/www.nrcan.gc.ca\/files\/earthsciences\/pdf\/assess\/2016\/Chapter-9e.pdf\"> https:\/\/www.nrcan.gc.ca\/sites\/www.nrcan.gc.ca\/files\/earthsciences\/pdf\/assess\/2016\/Chapter-9e.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 10px;\">5. Insurance Bureau of Canada (16 January 2019). URL:<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibc.ca\/on\/resources\/media-centre\/media-releases\/severe-weather-causes-190-million-in-insured-damage-in-2018\"> http:\/\/www.ibc.ca\/on\/resources\/media-centre\/media-releases\/severe-weather-causes-190-million-in-insured-damage-in-2018<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 10px;\">6. Griffin, Paul (2017). The Carbon Majors Database CDP Carbon Majors Report 2017, Climate Accountability Institute.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 10px;\">7. Affidavit filed by Oreskes, Supran et al. in lawsuit by Counties of San Mateo and Imperial Beach against Chevron et al. (January 2019). URL: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheredling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Center-for-Climate-Integrity-Amicus.pdf\">https:\/\/www.sheredling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Center-for-Climate-Integrity-Amicus.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 10px;\">8. Climate Liability News (2 August 2018). Despite Two Dismissals, Climate Liability Lawsuits Only Just Getting Started. URL:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.climateliabilitynews.org\/2018\/08\/02\/climate-liability-lawsuits-nyc-san-francisco-oakland\/%20\"> https:\/\/www.climateliabilitynews.org\/2018\/08\/02\/climate-liability-lawsuits-nyc-san-francisco-oakland\/ <\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 10px;\">9. West Coast Environmental Law (1 March 2019). URL: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wcel.org\/media-release\/20-local-governments-ask-20-fossil-fuel-companies-pay-share-local-climate-costs\">https:\/\/www.wcel.org\/media-release\/20-local-governments-ask-20-fossil-fuel-companies-pay-share-local-climate-costs<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 10px;\">10. State of California Department of Justice. URL:<a href=\"https:\/\/oag.ca.gov\/tobacco\/msa\"> https:\/\/oag.ca.gov\/tobacco\/msa <\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 10px;\">11. Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General. URL: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca\/english\/tobacco_litigation.php\">https:\/\/www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca\/english\/tobacco_litigation.php<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"EmptyMessage\">Block content is empty. Check the block&#8217;s settings or remove it.<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the 5 years that I\u2019ve lived in Toronto, like millions of my fellow Torontonians, I\u2019ve gone through heat waves, floods and wind storms. In addition to the emotional and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":8000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[23,32],"p4-page-type":[16],"class_list":["post-7986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","tag-climate","tag-oil","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7986"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51385,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7986\/revisions\/51385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7986"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=7986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}