Bill 120 explained in plain English

Bill 120 would make fossil fuel producers strictly liable for climate-related harms in Ontario if their greenhouse gas emissions are at a globally detectable level.

Bill 120, called the Liability for Climate-Related Harms Act, 2023, is a private members' bill that proposes to create a new legal rule in Ontario. The bill would make fossil fuel producers (companies engaged in exploring for, extracting, or selling coal, oil, and gas) strictly liable—meaning responsible without needing to prove fault—for harms caused by climate change in Ontario, but only if the producer's greenhouse gas emissions can be detected at a global level. The bill defines "climate-related harms" broadly to include economic losses, property damage, insurance costs, injury or illness, ocean acidification, sea level rise impacts, costs of monitoring climate effects, emergency response costs, infrastructure improvement costs, and public education campaign costs. To determine if a producer is liable, the bill says courts should consider both the emissions from producing the fossil fuels and the emissions from using those fuels. The bill also changes how courts evaluate evidence about whether a specific weather event was caused by climate change—if evidence shows climate change doubled the likelihood of that type of event, that is considered sufficient proof under the standard civil test (balance of probabilities) that climate change caused or worsened the event. The bill would come into force on the day it receives Royal Assent. Regulations would be needed to define what counts as "globally detectable" emissions and how to measure a producer's emissions level.