I’ve heard that before, too. I’m in the US, so I’ve got reason to be pessimistic about the reliability of the courts when it comes to holding wealthy people and corporations accountable.
I’m not going to get my hopes up for a reckoning until they are actually paying. Poor public opinion and isolated lawsuits are not meaningful until it’s costing the companies more than they earned via their decades of horribly irresponsible practices and outright lies. Anything less and it’s just a reduction in net profits, not an actual punishment.
Taking Exxon Mobil as an example: they apparently made $55.74B net income in 2022, a 141.93% increase from 2021. Even if these lawsuits were WILDLY successful and Exxon had to pay 20B in one-time settlements, that’s not even half a year’s net income and no deterrent.
Agreed. First the US should stop any form of financial support for the fossil fuel industry, then no longer issue drilling permits. In the same time more lawsuits and fines. Yeah the companies will raise their profits to remain flush with profit, but that will incentivize the transition to other energy storage systems for transportation, heating, etc.
Actual damage is many times larger than aggregate profits of all the oil companies. They’re in business due to control over government, rather than because of fair payment for the damage they do.
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