The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a request from Sunoco and other oil companies to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Honolulu. The lawsuit accuses these companies of deceiving the public for decades about the dangers of climate change caused by fossil fuel use. The justices rejected an appeal from the oil companies, who were challenging a decision by Hawaii’s highest court allowing the lawsuit to proceed. The defendants in the case include Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips, BHP Group, Marathon Petroleum, and Chevron.

Honolulu’s lawsuit, filed in 2020 by the City and County of Honolulu and the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, alleges that the companies violated state law by misleading the public about the environmental risks of their fossil fuel products. The city claims these false statements contributed to property damage and infrastructure harm resulting from climate change. The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages. Honolulu, located on Oahu Island, has experienced significant climate-related challenges, including heat waves that have strained its electrical grid. The lawsuit also highlights the need for costly retrofitting of a wastewater treatment plant to combat rising sea levels.

Ben Sullivan, an official at the City and County of Honolulu’s Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency, praised the Supreme Court’s decision. He called it a "significant day" for Honolulu, emphasizing that the ruling upholds the city’s right to enforce state laws in local courts, protecting taxpayers and communities from the financial burdens of climate change, which the lawsuit attributes to the defendants' actions.

Honolulu’s case is part of a broader trend of U.S. jurisdictions suing fossil fuel companies, seeking damages for their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change. The lawsuit claims that for over 50 years, the companies have known about the harmful effects of their products but failed to warn the public. Instead, they allegedly concealed the risks, spread false information, and worked to undermine support for regulatory measures on greenhouse gases. As a result, the lawsuit argues, rising sea levels along Honolulu’s coastline will lead to flooding, erosion, and loss of beaches, with extreme weather events becoming more frequent.

The oil companies had argued that federal law pre-empted the state law claims, as they believed the case sought to regulate interstate emissions and commerce, powers reserved for the federal government. However, Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Crabtree denied this request, and the Hawaii Supreme Court upheld his ruling in October 2023. The companies then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to take up the case. This is not the first time the defendants have attempted to move the case to federal court, as their previous request was also rejected by the Supreme Court in April 2023.