Greenpeace to pay pipeline company nearly $667 million
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And a US judge blocks the EPA from clawing back climate grants.
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Sustainable Switch
Sustainable Switch
By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital
Hello!
U.S. climate litigation continues to be in focus as a district judge temporarily stopped a $20 billion climate funding programme, while a jury decided to make Greenpeace pay nearly $667 million to a Texas-based pipeline company.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington issued a temporary restraining order, stopping the Environmental Protection Agency's termination of three climate nonprofit groups' grants and barring Citibank from moving grant funding held in their accounts.
Sustainable Switch previously covered the grants which were terminated as part of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin's campaign to claw back money from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and its connection to Project 2025's aims to cut environmental protections.
Congress authorized the funds in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act during President Joe Biden's tenure in 2022.
Native Americans protest march against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline adjacent to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, North Dakota, U.S. REUTERS/Stephen Yang
Vague assertions
The decision was an initial victory for the nonprofits, who sued earlier this month over the EPA's termination of their grants and Citibank's withholding of the money.
Chutkan said it appeared the EPA failed to take the legally required steps necessary to terminate the $13.97 million of grants awarded to Climate United, Coalition for Green Capital and Power Forward Communities.
The EPA under Zeldin's watch has said the program did not align with the agency's priorities, and it cited concerns with potential fraud, waste and abuse which it has asked the FBI and Justice Department to investigate.
Chutkan said the EPA provided only "vague and unsubstantiated assertions" to back up those claims.
Climate United CEO Beth Bafford said in a statement the ruling was "a strong step in the right direction," and the organization would work in the coming weeks towards a long-term solution.
Zeldin said he would not rest until the funds were returned to the U.S. Treasury, saying they were "riddled with self-dealing and wasteful spending."
Greenpeace to pay $667 million
Although climate non-profits notched up a victory against the EPA, environmental charity Greenpeace lost its case against a Texan oil pipeline company.
Pipeline company Energy Transfer accused Greenpeace of paying protesters to disrupt construction of the pipeline and spreading falsehoods about the project located near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
The jury in North Dakota reached a verdict after two days of deliberations and ordered the charity to pay nearly $667 million in damages for their role in 2016-2017 protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The verdict included damages for defamation, trespassing and conspiracy. The jury awarded more than $400 million in punitive damages, which are intended to punish defendants for their conduct.
Greenpeace denied wrongdoing and called the case an attack on free speech rights. The group's lawyers said they would appeal the verdict.
Here are a few more U.S. climate stories on my radar:
A foreign worker wounded in an Israeli airstrike on U.N. headquarters brought into Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Gaza humanitarian crisis: Video obtained by Reuters showed rescue workers in Gaza running with stretchers across smoking debris, ambulances rushing to hospitals, a morgue full of bloodied bodies in white bags, and casualties lying outside while relatives mourned the dead as Israel's sudden onslaught of air strikes overwhelmed hospitals. Click here for the full story.
Ben & Jerry's ESG: In a filing in a Manhattan, New York, federal court, Ben & Jerry's said its parent company Unilever advised it was removing its CEO Dave Stever without consulting directors because of his commitment to the ice cream maker's social mission and brand integrity, not because of concerns about his job performance.
Heat record: The world has beaten yet another record as the annual average mean temperatures stood at 1.55 degrees Celsius (2.79 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels last year, surpassing the previous 2023 record by 0.1C, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in its annual climate report.
SBTi: The Science-Based Targets initiative has proposed new rules to better help companies set high-quality emissions-reduction plans. This comes as the assessor of company climate goals faced controversy last year over the issue, with opponents saying its stance was holding back billions of dollars of investment in projects that remove and store carbon.
Mahmoud Khalil case: Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman said Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil must remain in the United States for now but moved his challenge to the legality of his arrest over his participation in pro-Palestinian protests to a court in New Jersey as he was held in that state at the time his lawyers first challenged his arrest in New York.
In Conversation
Prof Jean-Claude Burgelman, director of the Frontiers Planet Prize shares his thoughts on the recent report by the World Meteorological Organization:
"Extreme weather caused by human induced climate change is exposing people around the world to the horrifying impacts of intense heat, flooding and storms.
"The WMO's 'State of the Global Climate' report provides yet further scientific evidence – if more were needed – that our window of opportunity to avoid irreversible tipping points is closing.
"Faced with climate volatility, scientific research and innovation has never been more vital. We need collaboration and commitment, not ideological threats to research, scientific evidence and innovation. This will allow us to protect people and the planet.
"Addressing the environmental risks facing our world requires bold approaches. By uncovering at a global scale the most groundbreaking ideas, empowering scientists at the forefront of research, and fostering a unified, strategic global effort, we can develop pragmatic solutions to avert catastrophe."
ESG Lens
Analysis from the Bank for International Settlements has shown that there's a connection between companies that issue green bonds being better at reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, especially in heavily polluting sectors. Click here for more on the story.
Sustainable Switch was edited by Elaine Hardcastle.
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