California has filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against ExxonMobil for allegedly deceiving the public about the plastic pollution crisis, the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, announced on Monday.
“For decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible,” Bonta said in a statement.
The announcement comes amid increasing public concern about the plastic sector’s environmental and climate impact.
Two years ago, Bonta launched an investigation into fossil fuel and petrochemical producers “for their role in causing and exacerbating the global plastics pollution crisis”. As part of the investigation, he issued a subpoena to the oil giant ExxonMobil and plastic trade groups, seeking related documents.
In May 2024, industry groups asked a US district court to block the subpoena, but a federal district judge this month preliminarily rejected their argument that the investigation violated the first amendment.
A February report from the advocacy group Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) found that plastic producers have known for decades that plastic recycling is too cumbersome and pricey to become a feasible waste management solution, yet promoted it anyway. In a statement, the CCI president, Richard Wiles, called the legal challenge “the most important legal action to date in the global fight against plastic pollution”.
Last year, California sued Exxon and four other big oil companies, accusing them of sowing climate doubt despite longstanding knowledge of their products’ contributions to global heating. Two dozen other US states and municipalities have filed similar legal challenges.
“Just as Exxon knew and lied about how its fossil fuel products cause climate change, the polluter has also known and lied for decades about the reality that its plastic products could never be recycled at scale,” Wiles said. “From climate to plastics, Exxon’s entire business model is based on lying to the public about the harms its products cause.”
In a statement, an ExxonMobil spokesperson said the company is “bringing real solutions, recycling plastic waste that couldn’t be recycled by traditional methods”. She blamed California officials – not the oil industry – for the plastic waste crisis. “For decades, California officials have known their recycling system isn’t effective,” she said. “They failed to act, and now they seek to blame others. Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills.”
Advocates hope the California suit, which was filed in San Francisco county superior court, will spur a wave of similar litigation.
“Attorney General Bonta is leading the way to corporate accountability and a cleaner and healthier world,” Judith Enck, the head of anti-plastic advocacy group Beyond Plastics and a former senior Environmental Protection Agency official, said in a statement. “This lawsuit will set an invaluable precedent for others to follow.”
Polling conducted by CCI and the progressive polling firm Data for Progress this month found a majority of American voters, including 54% of Republicans, would support legal efforts to hold oil and petrochemicals responsible for the plastic crisis.
On Sunday, Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, also signed a law banning the distribution of plastic shopping bags.
