Exxon sues California over climate laws, alleging free speech violations
Exxon, an oil firm consistently ranked among the world’s top contributors to global carbon emissions, is suing the state of California over two climate-focused state laws, arguing that the rules infringe upon the corporation’s right to free speech.The 2023 laws, known collectively as the California Climate Accountability Package, will require large companies doing business in the state to disclose both their planet-heating carbon emissions and their climate-related financial risks, or face annual penalties.The laws would thereby force Exxon to “serve as a mouthpiece for ideas with which it disagrees”, says the lawsuit, filed in the US district court for the eastern district of California on Friday.Asked for comment, Exxon referred the Guardian to the lawsuit.The state of California was not immediately available for comment.
Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, told the New York Times it was “truly shocking that one of the biggest polluters on the planet would be opposed to transparency”, adding that the laws “have already been upheld in court and we continue to have confidence in them.”Exxon is asking the court to block the enforcement of the laws, which is set to begin in 2026.The company already reports emissions and climate risks voluntarily, using different methodologies, it said in the lawsuit.But the laws would force the company to adopt the state’s preferred frameworks for emissions and risk reporting, which it finds “misleading and counterproductive”, the lawsuit says.To calculate its emissions, Exxon uses a method established by the global non-profit oil and gas industry association Ipieca, which was created in 1974 to allow a UN environmental group to interface with polluting industries.
But under one of the two California laws, it would have to use a methodology known as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, developed by the research group World Resources Institute and business network World Business Council for Sustainable Development,That framework sends “the counterproductive message that large companies are uniquely responsible for climate change no matter how efficiently they satisfy societal demand for energy, goods, and services”, the lawsuit says,The California law also requires companies to report their global emissions footprint,But Exxon argues that the rule should apply only to emissions created by company activity within California’s borders, since the a vast majority of Exxon’s business operations occur outside the state,The second 2023 California law that Exxon is challenging requires companies to disclose the threat that climate change poses to their business operations, and how they plan to address them.
That would require it to speculate “about unknowable future developments”, Exxon argued.It also claimed that the law conflicts with existing federal securities laws, which already regulate what publicly traded companies must disclose regarding financial and environmental risks.Taken together, the two laws constitute overreach by California officials, the lawsuit argues.The laws aimed to “to shape public opinion and shame private parties disfavored by the State,” Exxon said.Supporters of the California rules say they discourage greenwashing from companies.
“The disclosure requirements would really pull back the curtain on the biggest climate destroyers in the oil industry,” Hollin Kretzmann, a senior attorney at the environmental advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity, told the Guardian after they were passed.Last year, business interests including the US Chamber of Commerce, California Chamber of Commerce, and American Farm Bureau Federation sued California over the same two laws.A judge denied a motion from the business groups to block the laws, but the case is still proceeding with a trial date expected in October 2026.The US Securities and Exchange Commission had also been working to implement new federal climate disclosure rules, and was nearing completion toward the end of Joe Biden’s term in the White House.Those rules also faced legal challenges; in March, the agency voted to end its legal defense of the rules.
Steven Finn: ‘Saying I was not selectable was clumsy language and it damaged me’
In his candid new book, the former England fast bowler talks about the lasting mental turmoil that ended his 2013-14 Ashes tour“I couldn’t get the words out because I was crying,” Steven Finn says as he remembers how, hunched over a microphone, he stared at the last lines he was meant to read aloud for the audio version of his raw and revealing new book. Emotion clogged his throat after he had belonged to three Ashes-winning England squads, while never feeling he fulfilled his immense wicket-taking talent, and having ended up lost and broken on the 2013-14 tour of Australia.Finn tried again but stifled crying choked his reading. He looked up and nodded at the encouraging producer. His mouth almost crumpled but, this time, he got through it
Cheltenham festival switch to Saturday a gamble not worth taking | Greg Wood
For the fourth year running, Cheltenham saw an increased attendance at its season-opening Showcase meeting over the weekend, as 31,125 racegoers made their way to the home of jumps racing. The total was a record since what was previously a midweek meeting moved to a Friday/Saturday slot in 2007, while the 21,113 crowd on Saturday was also a record for the second day of the meeting.It was a very positive start, in other words, to Guy Lavender’s first full season as the chief executive at Cheltenham, and the man tasked with turning around the sudden – and still largely unexplained – slump in attendance at the festival meeting over the last three years.Lavender, who joined Jockey Club Racecourses after a seven-year stint as chief executive of the MCC, spent much of Friday and Saturday touring the enclosures to get feedback from spectators on the changes to the customer experience that he has implemented so far, such as the removal of most restrictions on the areas where racegoers can consume alcohol and (small) reductions in the price of a pint.And he was also, perhaps, sounding out early reactions to an idea which was initially floated in the Racing Post last week, that the festival meeting should switch from its current Tuesday-to-Friday slot to a Wednesday-to-Saturday schedule instead
‘I’m making it work’: Lando Norris confident he is finally getting to grips with his McLaren
Lando Norris has said he is finally confident handling his McLaren car after a dominant victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix that moved him to the top of the world championship standings with four races remaining.The British driver won at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez with a superb drive from pole to flag. With his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri finishing only fifth and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third, the Briton now leads Piastri by one point and Verstappen by 36. Piastri had held the title lead since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but Norris has moved to the front as the championship enters its final run-in.He has struggled for much of the season, particularly in qualifying, not enjoying the feel of the grip from the front axle as much as he would like while Piastri enjoyed a strong run of results
England look to dodge lightning strike after familiar crumble in opening ODI
At the time and taken in isolation England’s opening one-day international against New Zealand on Sunday seemed wild, chaotic, bizarre. As they batted at the start of the game wickets fell to the first ball, the ninth, the 12th, and – except for the period when the brilliant Harry Brook was joined at the crease by Jamie Overton – fairly regularly thereafter. Beyond that pair, the rest of the team scored 25.But to anyone who witnessed the start of their last series in the format, against South Africa at Headingley last month – when they lost the toss, were put in to bat and rolled for 131 – it was a very familiar kind of freakishness. Indeed in 12 bilateral ODI series since their 2022 T20 World Cup win they have won the first game twice and lost it nine times (one was abandoned) – and in all but one of those defeats they batted first and posted a score that was easily chased down, losing by six wickets, eight wickets, four, seven, eight, four, seven and most recently four
The old man and the mirror: Aaron Rodgers meets the quarterback he used to be
The four-time MVP faced his old team on Sunday night and put in a respectable performance. But it was Jordan Love who was able to control the gameIt all started so well. And then it fell apart.For two quarters, it looked like Aaron Rodgers might conjure one of those nights, the sort that ends with a smirk, a wink, and a reminder that he can match any of the league’s young pups. It was the first time in his career that he played against Green Bay, where he spent nearly two decades, won four MVPs and a lone Super Bowl
Crunch time nears for Australia as selectors try to fit Ashes batting puzzle pieces together | Martin Pegan
The Great Australian Bat Off has returned for a brand new season with fresh faces and forgotten favourites bidding to join the cast for the Ashes series opener. In a major subplot, captain Pat Cummins is officially out of the first Test and is all but certain to be replaced by understudy Scott Boland, while the final auditions to claim a spot in the squad will be staged across the Sheffield Shield matches that begin on Tuesday as much as the T20 series against India.The main storyline will be familiar to seasoned fans as the Australia selectors largely repeat last year’s search for an opener to partner Usman Khawaja. But the return to form of Marnus Labuschagne, and injury concerns for Cameron Green and Beau Webster, are plot twists that have thrown up more uncertainty over which six batters will be included for the Perth Test.Green was pulled from the ODI series against India due to side soreness in what chair of selectors George Bailey said was a “conservative” call, but doubts remain over his ability to bowl early in the Ashes
We tried Tyra Banks’ ‘revolutionary’ hot ice-cream, and colour us confused
How to make sweet-and-sour pork – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass
Fete, Chelmsford, Essex: ‘It absolutely dares to be different’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants
Helen Goh’s recipe for forest floor cake | The sweet spot
Peter Hall obituary
‘Fermented in the gut’: scientists uncover clues about kopi luwak coffee’s unique taste