The week in climate policy: 4 updates you need to know

Here are the major climate policy developments for the week of May 13-17:

• A New York City court rejected the efforts of the oil industry to prevent a lawsuit from proceeding in New York state court. The city sued ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and the American Petroleum Institute in 2021 for deceptive practices “about the central role their products play in causing the climate crisis,” in violation of the city’s consumer protection laws. The oil industry players sought to move the case to federal courts, perceived as a more business-friendly setting. This decision follows a string of similar setbacks, with the Supreme Court declining to hear arguments to relocate city and state-led suits against the oil industry to federal courts three times.
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill that essentially deletes climate change from any current or future state energy policy. Taking effect starting July 1, the law also prohibits the construction of offshore wind turbines in state waters and will repeal state renewable energy and conservation grants. Florida is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and major insurance companies are pulling out of business within the state as covering climate-related damages becomes too expensive.
• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a new rule that will require transmission operators to create 20-year plans that explicitly consider the energy transition. In an effort to avoid disgruntled states not complying with interstate transmission projects, FERC mandated that states will only pay for transmission projects in proportion to the benefits they receive from the infrastructure.
• A group of 21 congressional Democrats sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, asking the SEC chair to finalize anti-greenwashing rules, first proposed in May 2022. “Funds and investment advisers are not currently required to substantiate their ESG strategies and practices through disclosures, which creates opportunities for greenwashing and other exaggerated or unfounded claims,” the letter states. The rule was expected to be released last month.