The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Thursday that municipalities cannot use state tort laws to hold multinational firms liable in federal court for costs associated with climate change, ending a New York City lawsuit that targeted a group of five major oil companies over global greenhouse emissions.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the Manhattan-based appeals court held in a 51-page opinion that global warming presented a “uniquely international problem of national concern” that was best suited to existing federal statutes and international treaties, not state law.