Climate-change battle heats up

Abstract

Last month saw several moves heightening concerns about the pace and consequences of global warming. Nigel Williams reports. Last month saw several moves heightening concerns about the pace and consequences of global warming. Nigel Williams reports. Concerns over climate change ratcheted up a notch last month with new fears that the pace of change had been greater than anyone predicted a decade ago, and that major tourist and nature sites could be out of bounds or threatened within coming years. And America's most populous state, California, opened a new front in its struggle with climate change when it announced it was suing the six largest carmakers in the US for allegedly contributing to global warming. In an unprecedented lawsuit, the state accused Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Chrysler and Nissan of creating a ‘public nuisance’ and costing it millions of dollars. Environmental campaigners hailed the lawsuit as a landmark event in the effort to deal with global warming. And a report for Churchill Insurance warned that sites such as the Great Barrier Reef and the Maldives could suffer irrevocably from climate change. The California lawsuit, filed in a US district court in northern California, alleges that vehicle emissions have contributed significantly to global warming, and argues that the car manufacturers should be held responsible for the past and future cost of combating the crisis. “Global warming is causing significant harm to California's environment, economy, agriculture and public health,” said the state's Democratic attorney general, Bill Lockyer, who filed the complaint. “The impacts are costing millions of dollars and the price tag is increasing… It is time to hold these companies responsible for their contribution to the crisis.” California is the largest car market in the US, with more than 2 million new vehicles registered every year. This compares with about 2.5 million for the entire UK. Car sales in the state totalled $83 billion in 2005 according to the Automobile Alliance, an industry group representing carmakers. The 29 million registered vehicles in the state drove a total of 320 billion miles in the year. The lawsuit further argues that monitoring and addressing the results of global warming's harmful effects in the future “will almost certainly cost millions more”. Roda Verheyen, co-director of Friends of the Earth Climate Justice Programme, welcomed the development, saying: “This was a case waiting to happen. It is the most significant piece of climate change litigation that has ever been brought.” California's boldness stemmed in part from the attitude of its governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican who has been outspoken in his determination to combat global warming. “There are some issues in the world that are simply so compelling, whether in the United States or in the United Kingdom, that demand us to put aside our partisan differences and attack them head on,” Schwarzenegger told one British newspaper last month. “In California, we have spent much of the past year doing just that on global warming and other environmental challenges. We've even signed an agreement with Tony Blair to fight climate change together, across an ocean and a continent, because protecting our planet demands nothing less,” he said. The Automobile Alliance in a statement said car manufacturers were already working to produce more fuel-efficient cars. Arguing that it needed more time to study the complaint, it noted that a similar suit, which saw energy companies sued on public nuisance grounds, had failed. “Using nuisance suits to address global warming would involve the courts in deciding political questions beyond their jurisdiction,” the alliance said. “This opens the door to lawsuits targeting any activity that used fossil fuel for energy.” The lawsuit comes as California aggressively pursues a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. A law passed in 2004 will force carmakers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 per cent. That measure is currently being challenged by car manufacturers. Last month the California state legislation approved a measure to force utilities to cut emissions, and the state has sued the federal government for failing to address the effects of global warming. “By curbing greenhouse gas emissions, we can devise new market-based mechanisms that spur innovation, collaborate on technology research and lead on an issue where the US government has been slow to act,” says Schwarzenegger.