The fight against climate change is a critical challenge of our time. To be successful, we must work together to develop and enact meaningful solutions. Some elected officials, including in Massachusetts, who could really help this effort, have chosen a different path. Instead of fighting climate change, they are engaged in a campaign of casting blame and political partisanship.

Since 2017, Massachusetts and a couple dozen of local and state governments have teamed with plaintiffs’ lawyers and private foundations to sue energy manufacturers, seeking to blame them for the impacts of climate change. But, as most people understand, climate change is a global problem to which everyone—not just a handful of companies—contributes.

As proponents of this litigation have admitted, this litigation campaign will do nothing to address climate change. What it will do, though, is undermine solutions-oriented efforts. The manufacturing community is working hard to develop the innovative new technologies that can allow us to source and use energy much more efficiently so that we can significantly reduce GHG emissions.

This approach is working. The cost of wind and solar farms has fallen dramatically while output has soared. Cars, airplanes and factories have all become more efficient. This is just the beginning. Every major company— including traditional energy manufacturers — understands that climate change is a by-product of energy use, as well as other aspects of modern society, and is actively engaged in climate solutions.

Read the full op-ed here.