Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

04/17/2018 Boulder and San Miguel County, and the City of Boulder represented pro-bono by ERI, filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy, companies with significant responsibility for global climate change. This was the first filed on behalf of communities from a non-coastal state, who demand that these companies pay their share of costs associated with climate change impacts felt by Colorado communities; wildfires, drought, and storms. ERI worked with the communities for one year to build the facts of the case and conduct studies on climate impacts for communities, ensuring allegations of harm in the lawsuit are scientifically accurate.

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Best Estimate of GHG Avoidance/Reduction of This Project (Tonnes CO2 Equivalent/Year):

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

The impacts of climate change fall on everyone but are hitting those with the fewest resources especially hard. They are the least able to adapt on their own, the most dependent on government services, and will be affected the most by any local tax increases necessary to fund responses to climate change. The aim of this lawsuit is to force companies to provide funds to cover adaptation costs necessitated by climate trends. Providing resources for local community adaptation and resilience through accountability litigation will help alleviate the impact that climate change is having on low-socioeconomic-status families, benefiting them most of all.

As for gender diversity, these communities are all led by female political leaders who care deeply about climate change ‚ Boulder Mayor Suzanne Jones, Boulder County Commissioners Elise Jones and Deb Gardner, and San Miguel County Commissioners Hilary Cooper and Kris Holstrom ‚ all of whom have supported the litigation from the beginning. ERI‚ team is led by Katie Redford, and the lawyers working under her currently include four men and five women. Thus this litigation project demonstrates the effectiveness of women climate and legal leaders.

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Mission Statement:

EarthRights International (ERI) is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization that combines the power of law and the power of people in defense of human rights and the environment, which we define as earth rights. We specialize in fact-finding, legal actions against perpetrators of earth rights abuses, training grassroots and community leaders, and advocacy campaigns. Through these strategies, EarthRights International seeks to end earth rights abuses, to provide real solutions for real people, and to promote and protect human rights and the environment in the communities where we work.