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Juliana Kim

California's lawsuit says oil giants downplayed climate change. Here's what to know

In this aerial picture taken on Aug. 21, a vehicle drives through floodwaters following heavy rains from Tropical Storm Hilary in Thousand Palms, Calif. (Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)

The state of California has filed a sweeping climate lawsuit against Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron, as well as the domestic oil industry's biggest lobby, the American Petroleum Institute.

The suit, filed on Friday in San Francisco Superior Court, claims that the companies misled the public for decades about climate change and the dangers of fossil fuels. It demands the companies help fund recovery efforts related to California's extreme weather events, from rising sea levels to drought and wildfires, that have been supercharged by human-caused climate change.

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