Carbon majors and the scientific case for climate liability

Will it ever be possible to sue anyone for damaging the climate? Twenty years after this question was first posed, we argue that the scientific case for climate liability is closed.
Here we detail the scientific and legal implications of an ‘end-to-end’ attribution that links fossil fuel producers to specific damages from warming. Using scope 1 and 3 emissions data from major fossil fuel companies, peer-reviewed attribution methods and advances in empirical climate economics, we illustrate the trillions in economic losses attributable to the extreme heat caused by emissions from individual companies. Emissions linked to Chevron, the highest-emitting investor-owned company in our data, for example, very likely caused between US$791 billion and $3.6 trillion in heat-related losses over the period 1991–2020, disproportionately harming the tropical regions least culpable for warming. More broadly, we outline a transparent, reproducible and flexible framework that formalizes how end-to-end attribution could inform litigation by assessing whose emissions are responsible and for which harms. Drawing quantitative linkages between individual emitters and particularized harms is now feasible, making science no longer an obstacle to the justiciability of climate liability claims.

Paper (PDF):
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08751-3.epdf

#BP #Gazprom #SaudiAramco #ExxonMobile #Chevron

#ClimateScience
#CarbonMajor
#CO2
#GlobalWarming
#Economy
#ClimateCatastrophe
#ClimateResponsibility
#ClimateLiability
#FossilFuel
#Capitalism
#NeoCapitalism
#ClimateBreakdown
#ClimateComplaint

#Climate #LossAndDamage over the 2010-2019 decade averaged $ 148 bn a year, which is roughly the same as the $ 209 bn a year quoted in this study:

"The world’s top#FossilFuel companies owe at least $209bn in annual #ClimateReparations to compensate communities most damaged by their polluting business and decades of lies."

This data is grist for the #ClimateLiability mill.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/19/fossil-fuel-firms-owe-climate-reparations-of-209bn-a-year-says-study

⚖️ Recently, the U.S. #SupremeCourt declined to hear a petition on whether #climateliability cases should be heard in state or federal court. As a result, 11 cases will be remanded to state court to move towards motions to dismiss, discovery & trial. Our climate law fellow Korey Silverman-Roati delves into the factors that led to this decision: https://blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechange/2023/05/12/cities-counties-and-states-score-major-procedural-win-in-climate-liability-suits-against-fossil-fuel-companies/

#BigOil has knowingly fueled & denied the #climatecrisis for decades. Join me and sign your name to demand they are held accountable! #ClimateLiability #SmokeandFumes @ciel_tweets https://bit.ly/2Mo6Xcp