Guyanese environmental attorney Melinda Janki has delivered a powerful message to young lawyers across the Commonwealth, outlining how strategic litigation and unwavering resolve enabled her to challenge ExxonMobil’s oil operations in Guyana and secure landmark court victories.
In a recent TEDTalk presentation titled “How we took on an oil giant — and won,” Janki traced her transformation from corporate oil industry lawyer to environmental advocate. Reflecting on the pivotal moment that changed her path, she said: “When I was younger, I worked in the oil industry. I was a corporate lawyer inside one of the biggest oil companies in the world. Then one day, in the middle of a massive deal, a colleague said to me, ‘This is so sexy.’ And I knew I had to leave.”
Returning to Guyana, which she described as “a carbon sink” within the Amazon rainforest system, Janki shifted her focus to defending communities and ecosystems. She told the audience that her work included drafting environmental and Indigenous rights legislation that helped empower an Indigenous community to safeguard 2,300 square miles of tropical forest.
Her deep personal connection to nature, she explained, fuels her activism. Yet that natural beauty, she warned, faces mounting danger from fossil fuel-driven climate change. ExxonMobil’s 2015 announcement of more than 11 billion barrels of offshore oil discoveries in Guyana intensified her resolve to act.
“I know what you’re thinking. The oil industry is big. It’s powerful… But you can fight them. And you can win,” Janki said, emphasising that the law provides an effective counterweight to corporate influence. “The oil industry cares about money… The only thing they respond to is power. Law is power. I’m a lawyer. I use law.”
Janki recounted a series of courtroom successes achieved despite limited resources and initial scepticism. Among them was a 2020 ruling that reduced ExxonMobil Guyana’s environmental permits from 20 years to five after she identified a little-noticed regulatory provision restricting permit duration. “I don’t ask judges to make new laws… I use existing law. My heart tells me what to do, but my head tells me how to do it,” she said.
A major breakthrough followed in March 2025, when the court agreed that environmental impact assessments for Exxon’s projects must consider global emissions generated when Guyana’s oil is burned — so-called Scope 3 emissions. Janki noted that the ruling relied on statutory language she had drafted requiring consideration of indirect environmental impacts, setting a precedent for future petroleum developments.
In what she described as the most significant case so far, the court ruled that ExxonMobil Guyana Limited holds unlimited liability for environmental damage arising from its operations and must be backed by an unlimited parent company guarantee. The decision, she said, recognised that the subsidiary lacked the financial capacity to cover potential damages, underscoring the risks associated with offshore drilling.
Additional rulings have required ExxonMobil Guyana to comply with international law, maintain insurance coverage and provide a US$2 billion guarantee. Courts also clarified that co-venturers Hess Guyana and CNOOC Guyana cannot rely solely on their petroleum production licences to produce oil.
Janki acknowledged that not every case resulted in victory but stressed that even setbacks can reshape the legal landscape. She highlighted an early lawsuit filed on behalf of a pensioner client, Ramon “Rambo” Gaskin, which, though unsuccessful on its main claim, led to a groundbreaking ruling that public-interest litigants seeking to protect the environment should not face adverse legal costs. The precedent, she said, now applies across five countries and lowers barriers to environmental justice.
Framing her remarks as both warning and call to action, Janki argued that the fossil fuel industry’s business model poses a profound threat to life on Earth and demands sustained legal scrutiny. “We will continue to fight. We don’t have a choice… It’s them or us,” she declared.
Closing with a message of empowerment, she urged young lawyers not to be intimidated by corporate power. “Don’t be fooled by the big bad image of the oil industry… When we fight with courage and intelligence, we beat the oil industry.”
Janki’s presentation highlighted the growing role of strategic climate litigation and positioned the law as a critical tool for safeguarding environmental rights, human welfare and the future of vulnerable states like Guyana.
