Suing the Planet
Exxon Mobil's Plastic Promises and Legal Battles
In a stunning display of corporate audacity, ExxonMobil has filed a lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta and environmental groups, “accusing them of defaming and disparaging the oil giant's advanced plastics recycling initiatives.” It comes as Rob Bonta himself has filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil, accusing the company of misleading the public about plastic recycling.
The lawsuit, which follows a two-and-a-half-year investigation, claims that ExxonMobil has falsely promoted plastic recycling as a solution to pollution since the 1980s—despite knowing full well that most plastics are neither recyclable nor biodegradable. The core of Bonta's argument is that most plastics, made up of more than 16,000 different chemicals, are inherently difficult or impossible to recycle.
Yet for decades, ExxonMobil has sold the idea that recycling was the answer, painting a false picture of sustainability. As environmental awareness grew, ExxonMobil raised the stakes by pushing "chemical recycling"—a process that, in most cases, turns plastic into fuel rather than reusable products—a convenient excuse to keep the plastic pipeline flowing under the pretence of innovation. Bonta asked a court to "hold ExxonMobil fully accountable for its role in actively creating and exacerbating the plastics pollution crisis."
One of Australia’s richest people Dr Andrew Forrest, his mining company Fortescue and his charitable foundation Minderoo have been named in the lawsuit but they are not being sued.
“The fossil fuel industry is getting increasingly desperate at maintaining its toxic grip on society. Their only priority is to maximise their profits and produce as much oil and gas as possible,” he said
These tactics are indeed nothing new. Since the 1970s, big fossil fuel corporations, like ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP, have been involved in long-running deception campaigns to downplay the impact of fossil fuels on climate change. They have financed research and public relations campaigns to cast doubt on the science of climate change and shift blame from fossil fuel industries to consumers.
The California Justice Department says the state’s Attorney-General “looks forward to vigorously litigating this case in court.”
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Sources:
Andrew Forrest named in ExxonMobile defamation action | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site
Exxon sues California AG, environmental groups over attacks on recycling efforts https://www.reuters.com/legal/exxon-mobil-sues-california-attorney-general-environmental-groups-2025-01-06/
California attorney general sues Exxon Mobil over plastics recycling deceptions - POLITICO
California sues Exxon Mobil over ‘sham’ of plastics recycling | Grist
California sues ExxonMobil over plastics recycling 'deception' - BBC News
Assessing ExxonMobil's climate change communications (1977–2014), Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskes, 2017 Environ. Res. Lett. 12
Merchants of Doubt – Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway (2010)
Shannon Hall, Exxon Knew About Climate Change Almost 40 Years Ago – Scientific American (2015)
“Let’s keep drilling and polluting the planet with oil, but look at our plastic recycling and how we stopped polluting with plastic!”
It’s such a typical deflect and desist strategy, and the problem is that it works. As long as these companies are not held accountable, many efforts of the common people will be in vain. And they have the money to sweep things under the rug.