Climate Cases Put Big Oil’s Behemoth Trade Group in Bull’s-Eye

State and local governments taking Big Oil to court over climate change have a new target: the American Petroleum Institute—an approach that could pay off for plaintiffs and create headaches for the industry’s biggest trade group, lawyers say.

Recent lawsuits from Delaware, Minnesota, and Hoboken, N.J., name API as a defendant, saying the group should be on the hook alongside oil companies for allegedly misleading the public about fossil fuels’ climate impacts.

“API has participated in and led several coalitions and front groups, often in collaboration with the Fossil Fuel Company Defendants, that have organized deceptive advertising and communications campaigns ...