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ARTICLE · 17 DECEMBER 2019

ExxonMobil Wins Climate Change Securities Battle Against New York But The War Continues

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More than four years of contentious litigation concluded this month when the Supreme Court of the State of New York released its judgment in the People of the State of New York v Exxon Mobil Corporation.

CanadaEnvironment
Michael Theroux
Michael Theroux
Laura Gill
Laura Gill
Ryan Moore
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More than four years of contentious litigation concluded this month when the Supreme Court of the State of New York released its judgment in the People of the State of New York v Exxon Mobil Corporation. The Court found overwhelmingly against the Attorney General of New York (the "Attorney General"), exonerating ExxonMobil Corporation ("Exxon") from allegations that it engaged in "a long-standing fraudulent scheme" to defraud investors over management of business risks posed by climate change regulation. 

The lawsuit arose from two 2014 Exxon publications titled "Energy and Carbon – Managing the Risks" and "Energy and Climate". The Attorney General alleged that Exxon misled investors by representing that a "proxy cost" of carbon was universally used to evaluate the effect of environmental regulation on energy projects, when in fact Exxon used a different variable "GHG cost" for internally evaluating projects. The Attorney General alleged that Exxon's capital

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