Fighting Fossil Fuels in the Courts and on the Ballot

At age 9, Nalleli Cobo, suffering headaches, heart palpitations, nosebleeds and body spasms, became an activist, driven to close the local oil well responsible for her ailments. In 2022, at age 20, she won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her work shutting down toxic wells throughout the Los Angeles region. The same year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law prohibiting such neighborhood wells. Then Big Oil bankrolled a referendum on the matter for the November 2024 ballot, putting the restrictions Cobo fought so hard for on hold.

Also in California, State Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed a lawsuit against five of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, along with the sector’s largest trade association  American Petroleum Institute, for willfully misleading the public about climate change. This week we explore two methods of challenging fossil fuels: in the courts and on the ballot.

Nalleli Cobo

Cofounder, People Not Pozos

Rob Bonta

California Attorney General

Climate Heroes In Your Neighborhood with Matt Scott
Tuesday June 25 | 6:00 p.m.
There are climate heroes among us everywhere, but many go unnoticed in the thrum of everyday life. Matt Scott, director of storytelling and engagement at Project Drawdown, has been shining a light on the work of such people in cities across the country in his documentary short series “Drawdown’s Neighborhood.” In Atlanta, Pittsburgh, New Orleans and more, Scott lifts up underrepresented voices of those engaging in climate issues directly in their communities. And that diversity of voices — of women, Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color — is itself the point. “By passing the mic to underrepresented people working on the frontlines of climate change, we hope to share as many of these stories as possible while reshaping who society sees as climate heroes,” says Scott. 

The San Francisco Bay Area is the latest region in Drawdown’s Neighborhood, with full episodes premiering in August 2024. Join us for this unique Climate One event, as Scott hosts a live conversation with local climate heroes and showcases the diversity of people taking action all across the country to meaningfully address climate change.

When President Biden announced a significant increase in tariffs on a bevy of Chinese products, including electric vehicles, solar cells, steel and aluminum, his remarks focused on protecting jobs, not the climate. But the president, whose largest piece of legislation to date put the clean energy transition front and center, may ultimately have undermined his own goal of halving national emissions by 2030.

Very few EVs are imported to the U.S. from China, with Polestar and Volvo the only brands currently on the road expected to be subject to the import duties. However, the tariff is likely to deter BYD, which recently surpassed Tesla as the world’s largest manufacturer of EVs, from opening a plant in Mexico for closer access to the U.S. market. As domestic manufacturers continue to slow their rollout of new EV models, the loss of foreign-made alternatives would be a big blow to the availability of EVs nationwide, slowing the transition away from gasoline-burning cars.

The impact of the tariffs on the solar industry is what has some clean energy supporters most concerned. China is a major supplier of solar cells to the United States. However, most Chinese solar producers already ship their products to third-party nations like Cambodia and Malaysia for final assembly, and it remains an open question as to whether the new tariffs will apply to solar cells originating in China but exported to the U.S. from an alternate country. If it’s determined that these products are also subject to the increased import duties, then installing new solar arrays will become demonstrably more expensive.

PLUS:

Pete McCloskey, the influential California congressman and lawyer, died earlier this month at the age of 94. A lifelong champion of environmental causes, McCloskey co-authored the Endangered Species Act and later worked on some of the first lawsuits alleging the federal government failed to protect young people from climate change.

In honor of McCloskey and his tireless efforts to protect the planet, Climate One released a special mini episode. The bonus pod is now available on all major podcast platforms.

Source: Carbon Brief/NGESO

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