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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello!

We’re all boarding a crammed train to ‘Climate Litigation Station’ again as the largest oil trade group in the United States – which includes Exxon Mobil and Chevron – will file a federal lawsuit on Thursday, while the world’s largest carmakers are facing proceedings in Britain for allegedly cheating emissions tests.

The U.S. action is seeking to block the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce planet-warming emissions from cars and light trucks and encourage electric vehicle manufacturing.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued new tailpipe emission rules in March that will force the nation’s automakers to produce and sell more electric vehicles to meet the new standards.

Under the rule, the administration projects up to 56% of all car sales will be electric between 2030 and 2032. Total U.S. EV sales are expected to be about 8% of overall auto sales in 2023.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) says the EPA has exceeded its congressional authority with a regulation that will eliminate most new gas cars and traditional hybrids from the U.S. market in less than a decade.

Also on my radar today:

American Petroleum Institute seeks to sue the Biden administration over EVs. Oil pumps in the Eagle Ford Shale oil field in Karnes County, Texas, U.S. REUTERS/Jennifer Hiller

“Today, we are taking action to protect American consumers, U.S. manufacturing workers and our nation’s hard-won energy security from this intrusive government mandate,” API Senior Vice President and General Counsel Ryan Meyers said.

The lawsuit will be filed in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The National Corn Growers Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation will join API as co-petitioners. The two groups rely on gas-powered cars to support the corn-ethanol industry.

“By approving tailpipe standards that focus exclusively on electric vehicles, EPA has ignored the proven benefits corn ethanol plays in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating climate change,” Minnesota farmer and National Corn Growers Association President Harold Wolle said.

In April, Republican attorneys general from 25 states sued the EPA to block the same rules.

Elsewhere, the Republican majority in a U.S. congressional committee published a report accusing Wall Street firms of colluding with advocacy groups to force companies to shrink their greenhouse gas emissions.

The committee’s report, which was reported earlier by Reuters, is the first since it launched an investigation in 2022 into whether corporate efforts to tackle climate change violate antitrust laws.

In the report, Republican lawmakers accuse Biden’s administration of failing to “meaningfully investigate the climate cartel’s collusion, let alone bring enforcement actions against its apparent violations of longstanding U.S. antitrust law.”

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Congressman Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat who sits on the judiciary committee of the House of Representatives that produced the report, dismissed its findings in a document seen by Reuters.

“There is no theory of antitrust law that prevents private investors from working together to capture the risks associated with climate change,” Nadler wrote in the preface to a document prepared by Democrats in response.

In Britain, some of the world’s biggest carmakers are facing lawsuits for allegedly cheating emissions tests that could cost them at least 6 billion pounds ($7.6 billion), claimants’ lawyers told London’s High Court.

The claims, brought by owners of diesel vehicles, highlight the ongoing fallout for automakers from the “dieselgate” scandal that erupted in 2015 when Volkswagen admitted to using defeat devices to change diesel vehicles’ emissions levels during testing.

Manufacturers including Mercedes-Benz and Ford are also alleged to have misled customers about certain vehicles’ compliance with nitrogen oxide emissions standards – which the companies deny.

A spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz – which faces around 300,000 claims – said in a statement: “We continue to believe that the claims against Mercedes-Benz are without merit and will vigorously defend ourselves against them or any group action with the necessary legal means.”

A Ford spokesperson said: “We see no merit in these claims and are robustly defending against them. Our vehicles and engines meet all applicable emissions requirements.”

 Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla has convinced investors to back his pay. Now he must persuade a judge. Beverly Hills, California, U.S. REUTERS/David Swanson/File Photo

Beijing slammed EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles as protectionist behaviour and said it hoped the European bloc would correct its “wrong practices” and handle trade frictions through dialogue.

The reaction from China and others embroiled in the dispute, including European and Chinese car makers, points to clear opposition to the EU decision and an eagerness to de-escalate the situation.

Founder of the Association of Women Drivers, Olivia Summers, trains Wakisha Malone in Rosemond, California, U.S. Screengrab taken from a video. REUTERS/Reuters TV

In keeping with today’s vehicle theme, stunt women in Hollywood have formed the Association of Women Drivers, the first ever stunt group for professional female drivers.

Olivia Summers, who spearheaded the organization, has been doing stunts for 20 years, with credits, including films like “Bridesmaids” and “The Flight Attendant.” But she was disappointed by male stunt drivers being cast to double for female actors and remembers a disastrous meeting with a commercial producer.

“That producer said ‘Oh I didn’t know there were female drivers. We just put a guy in a wig,’ and I was super frustrated because I’m like, how does this person not know this?,” Summers told Reuters while training on a track with other stunt women outside Los Angeles.

But it’s not just women who face this issue. There is also a practice known as “paintdowns” in which they paint the stunt performer black or brown to double for an actor of color, she said.

A fawn is rescued after being found by a thermal drone by volunteers of the Fondation Sauvetage Faons Vaud in Forel, near Lausanne, Switzerland. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Elsewhere, in the lush fields of the Swiss town of Forel, volunteers use drones before dawn to find fawns, or young deer, nestled beneath tall grasses, preventing farmers from inadvertently harming them with heavy agricultural machinery.

Hundreds of fawns have been killed or mutilated in Swiss agricultural fields, prompting Fondation Sauvetage Faons (the Fawn Rescue Foundation) in the Vaud canton to take action.

Farmer Stephan Kohl, who was devastated when he accidentally killed a fawn in his field, has been using the foundation’s free service to prevent further incidents.

“A little fawn is so small,” he said. “We all have small cats and dogs at home. Fawns are cute, too. They are wild animals, but animals nonetheless.”

Established in 2018, the group alerts farmers to the presence of fawns so they can steer clear of them while reaping or mowing their property.

“Transition minerals – such as cobalt, nickel, and lithium used in renewable energy technologies like EV batteries and solar panels – were front and center. As demand for these minerals spikes, so too do the human rights and environmental risks in places where these minerals are extracted.” 

Payal Sampat, mining program director at Earthworks,

a global environment and conservation NGO

Today’s Sustainable Switch was edited by Elaine Hardcastle.

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