States’ efforts this year to force major polluters to pay for climate change damages were largely unsuccessful, with some lawmakers running up against oil producers or waiting for lawsuits against New York and Vermont, the first states to pass such laws, to get resolved.

Around 10 states proposed some type of climate superfund legislation in 2025, according to the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators. Most of the activity took place in Democratic-led states including California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and Maine. None of the bills that would make polluters pay for their emissions advanced far, which …