ExxonMobil Sues California, Claiming That Disclosure Of GHG Output Hurts Its First Amendment Rights

[hatrack]

Exxon, an oil firm consistently ranked among the world’s top contributors to global carbon emissions, is suing the state of California over two climate-focused state laws, arguing that the rules infringe upon the corporation’s right to free speech.

The 2023 laws, known collectively as the California Climate Accountability Package, will require large companies doing business in the state to disclose both their planet-heating carbon emissions and their climate-related financial risks, or face annual penalties.

The laws would thereby force Exxon to “serve as a mouthpiece for ideas with which it disagrees”, says the lawsuit, filed in the US district court for the eastern district of California on Friday. Asked for comment, Exxon referred the Guardian to the lawsuit. The state of California was not immediately available for comment.

Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, told the New York Times it was “truly shocking that one of the biggest polluters on the planet would be opposed to transparency”, adding that the laws “have already been upheld in court and we continue to have confidence in them.”

Exxon is asking the court to block the enforcement of the laws, which is set to begin in 2026. The company already reports emissions and climate risks voluntarily, using different methodologies, it said in the lawsuit. But the laws would force the company to adopt the state’s preferred frameworks for emissions and risk reporting, which it finds “misleading and counterproductive”, the lawsuit says.

To calculate its emissions, Exxon uses a method established by the global non-profit oil and gas industry association Ipieca, which was created in 1974 to allow a UN environmental group to interface with polluting industries. But under one of the two California laws, it would have to use a methodology known as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, developed by the research group World Resources Institute and business network World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/27/exxon-lawsuit-california-climate-emissions

[Lovie777]

1. HUH.....................

[Botany]

2. So the State of California's right of freedom of speech is a violation of Exxon's 1st amendment rights?

Good luck with that lawsuit.

[-misanthroptimist]

3. Corporations shouldn't have Rights

They are created by government. They exist because of government. Therefore, they aren't people and have no Rights. They should have only, in a sane world, privileges granted by government.