Exxon Mobil has sued California over new climate disclosure laws, claiming the state’s emissions and risk reporting rules violate its First Amendment rights. The oil giant argues the laws are misleading and conflict with federal regulations.
Exxon Mobil has filed a lawsuit against California, arguing that two state laws requiring large companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risks violate its First Amendment rights, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, challenges Senate Bills 253 and 261, which mandate public reporting of both direct and indirect emissions as well as climate risk management strategies. Exxon said the rules compel it to “serve as a mouthpiece for ideas with which it disagrees,” and urged the court to block enforcement.
California introduced the laws in 2023 as part of its broader effort to increase corporate accountability on climate change. SB 253 applies to companies with annual revenues above $1 billion, while SB 261 targets those earning over $500 million.
Tech giants including Apple, Microsoft, and Ikea have backed the regulations, but major business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Farm Bureau Federation have criticized them as overly burdensome.
Exxon maintains it already provides voluntary disclosures and said California’s framework is “misleading and counterproductive.” The company also argues that the laws conflict with existing federal securities regulations governing financial and environmental risk disclosures.
California’s Department of Justice and the Air Resources Board have not yet commented on the lawsuit.