President Donald Trump has issued an executive order restricting states from being able to take climate-related legal action against oil companies, detrimental to preserving the environment and the authority of states to hold polluters responsible for climate concerns. In an era where the impact of global warming is seen all around the world in the form of extreme weather events such as rising sea levels and catastrophic wildfires, Trump’s order has managed to close a critical legal path aimed at corporate responsibility.

Ironically, the current scenario hints at the emergence of a new legal war, headlined, not by environmental advocates, but by Republican attorneys general. Interestingly, while these individuals had earlier disregarded climate-related issues, they are in the process of taking legal action against financial institutions, questioning their sustainable investment practices.

Read More: Fossil Fuel Firms Sue Governments Over Climate Laws

A team of Republican attorneys general, spearheaded by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, has filed lawsuits against prominent asset management companies such as State Street, BlackRock, and Vanguard. The cases filed revolve around antitrust violations linked to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing. The group believes that these organizations worked together to limit the production of coal, which would, in turn, lower energy expenses, thereby reducing its market competitiveness.

The lawsuits aim to pressure asset managers into staying away from climate-conscious investing. In other words, Republican leaders plan to oppose core ESG principles to undermine the move toward sustainable finance while safeguarding the fossil fuel sector.

Something that the plaintiffs haven’t considered is that the case is likely to reveal the coal industry’s deepest secrets through the process of legal discovery. Since the lawsuits claim that the companies in question had ties with the coal companies, it’s a given that they will be drawn into the cases and compelled to reveal critical internal documents.

The legal discovery process is likely to unearth internal communications, strategy memos, dark-money funding, and lobbying efforts by coal companies. Additionally, the documentation could also throw light on the following events:

• The efforts to hinder the move to clean energy
• The efforts toward spreading false information on climate issues
• The efforts to influence regulators to remain reliant on fossil fuels

Also Read: Climate Lawsuits Rising in Nearly 60 Countries, Says Report

The availability of public information aside, environmentalists have believed in the depths of interference exhibited by fossil fuel companies for a long time now. While the lawsuit intends to highlight the sustainable investing-related concerns, there’s a chance that it might speed up transparency levels and push the public to demand accountability. While Trump aims to shield polluters via executive action, there’s a high chance that it may backtrack due to the filing of cases by his own party. It is undoubtedly true that although the ESG investing attacks are driven by politics and are outdated, they are likely to reveal the fossil fuel industry’s attempts to hinder progress.

Finally, as far as climate advocates are concerned, there’s no doubt that the fight for accountability will continue to evolve through legislatures, courtrooms, and lawsuits intended to undermine the cause.

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Source: Union of Concerned Scientists