New York appellate court rejects city's oil-company greenwashing claims

On October 8, 2026, New York's Appellate Division affirmed dismissal of New York City's consumer-protection claims against ExxonMobil, BP and Shell in City of New York v Exxon Mobil Corp. The court held that comparative fuel claims were not plausibly deceptive when the complaint itself assumed widespread public knowledge that gasoline produces greenhouse-gas emissions, and that corporate clean-energy statements lacked the required connection to a consumer sale. The decision gives defendants a pleading-stage framework centered on claim context, comparative wording and the statutory nexus to goods or services rather than a general shield for sustainability communications. Companies should still substantiate environmental claims jurisdiction by jurisdiction because other consumer statutes cited by the court are broader than New York City's law.