A new survey shows 4.2% of British Columbians were found to be climate deniers, while majorities across urban, suburban and rural B.C. backed suing fossil fuel companies for local damages.
A strong majority of British Columbians support a growing campaign to launch a class-action lawsuit against the world’s biggest oil and gas companies to recoup local damages from climate change, according to a recent poll.
The survey found a total of 39 per cent of respondents “strongly support” the lawsuit, which has not yet been filed; another 30 per cent somewhat support the strategy. “This is a way we can hold global companies accountable for a share of the cost, which means that it will then show up on their balance sheets for the first time. They will have to make business decisions knowing that there will be a cost to them if they continue to delay action on climate change.”
And while Vancouver has an outsized influence in the province, Gage said more cities need to sign on for the litigation to qualify as a class action. Between 1954 and 2010, just 90 companies were responsible for nearly two-thirds of all emissions from fossil fuels across the planet.