Investor and Corporate Climate Involvement: Newsletter #6
Weekly newsletter on corporate involvement in sustainability controversies, with a focus on Climate and Environment.
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El Paso officials are demanding a formal public accounting from Marathon after a night-time refinery flare blew past its air permit limits, releasing more than 10,000 pounds of propylene, hydrogen cyanide and other pollutants above permitted levels. The city council, a US representative and a county commissioner have all called for scrutiny of a contested air permit renewal the refiner is appealing. #airpollution
The Australian government is suing 3M for over $2bn, alleging it knew for more than 50 years its aqueous film-forming foam could harm humans and the environment. Court filings claim PFAS from foam used at 28 defence bases has poisoned land and water, in the largest legal claim Australia has ever brought against a company. #PFAS
A judge rejected Delta's bid to dismiss a greenwashing class action over its "world's first carbon neutral airline" claims, letting the suit proceed on grounds the carrier leaned on carbon offsets that did not deliver real reductions. The ruling leaves Delta exposed to further litigation over its climate marketing. #greenwashing
As covered last week, the Supreme Court will hear Suncor v. Boulder on October 5. Now an investigation shows industry-aligned groups filed 38 amicus briefs backing ExxonMobil and Suncor, with a conservative network lawyer calling the court's majority the key defence against "catastrophic outcomes" for the industry. #climatelitigation
A US appeals court upheld EPA's designation of two 'forever chemicals' as hazardous under Superfund, exposing manufacturers including 3M, DuPont, Chemours, EIDP and Corteva, plus waste disposal firms, to cleanup liability at contaminated sites nationwide. #PFAS #pollution
NextEra Energy, the world's largest listed power company, told investors it no longer sees a realistic path to its 2045 Real Zero goal, and has dropped its "clean energy" branding while pivoting investment toward natural gas. #greenwashing #gas
Anthropic pays around $1.25bn a month computing for Elon Musk's Colossus data centre in Memphis, powered by methane-burning gas turbines, which faces a NAACP lawsuit alleging unpermitted polluting operation while local residents report heavy pollution. #AI #pollution
Law students at VU Amsterdam, backed by Advocates for the Future, filed a complaint with the Dutch advertising watchdog challenging the "climate neutral" biomass claims as misleading against German energy firm RWE. #greenwashing #biomass
Corporate Climate Controversies. Image: ChatGPT. Prompt: An image depicting PFAS polluting water. Do not use writing in the image
