In March 2020, the City of Honolulu filed a lawsuit against several oil and gas companies, seeking monetary damages to help pay for costs associated with climate impacts like sea level rise and flooding.

The lawsuit is based on claims of nuisance, failure to warn, and trespass and alleges that the climate impacts facing the city stem from the oil companies’ decades-long campaign to mislead policymakers and the public about the dangers of fossil fuels.

Honolulu is already experiencing climate impacts including extreme heat and precipitation, severe storms and flooding, and coastal erosion.

The defendants include BP, BHP Group, Aloha Petroleum, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, ExxonMobil, Marathon Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell and Sunoco.

They have filed several motions to dismiss the case, two of which were denied by the first circuit court in Hawaii. The defendant's appeals were heard in August 2023 by the Supreme Court, almost coinciding with deadly wildfires in Maui.

Chevron has filed a third motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that it violates the company’s first amendment rights. That motion was also dismissed by a Hawaii court last year and is moving through a separate appeals process. The case is ongoing.