A recent study conducted by scientists at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire has identified 111 companies as responsible for inflicting an estimated $28 trillion (£21 trillion) in global economic damages resulting from climate change since the early 1990s. This research, published in the journal Nature, sheds new light on the scale of economic losses linked to extreme heat caused by greenhouse gas emissions from major fossil fuel companies.

Leading the list is Saudi Aramco, the oil giant accountable for approximately $2.05 trillion in economic losses attributed to intensifying heat waves across the globe. Following closely are Russian energy firm Gazprom, with around $2 trillion in related damages, and American oil and gas company Chevron, responsible for $1.98 trillion. Other significant contributing companies include ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, National Iranian Oil Company, Pemex, Coal India, and the British Coal Corporation.

The study highlights that these companies extract fossil fuels such as oil and gas, which, when burned, release substantial amounts of carbon dioxide and methane—potent greenhouse gases driving global warming. The planetary heating linked to these emissions has generated a variety of costly climate impacts, including wildfires, crop failures, and severe weather events such as floods and storms.

Justin Mankin, a climate researcher and lead author of the study, stated, “We argue that the scientific case for climate liability is closed.” He explained how advances in climate attribution science and improved availability of climate and socioeconomic data have enabled the researchers to link emissions from individual companies to specific damages associated with climate change nearly in real time.

Between 1991 and 2020, extreme heat connected to carbon dioxide and methane emissions from these 111 companies imposed $28 trillion in losses on the global economy. Notably, about one-third of this total—roughly $9 trillion (£6.7 trillion)—stemmed from the top five emitters: Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and BP. The study further estimated that Chevron alone, the highest-emitting investor-owned company in the dataset, was responsible for heat-related losses upwards of $3.6 trillion (£2.7 trillion) during the same period. Chevron’s pollution has contributed to raising the Earth’s temperature by approximately 0.045°F (0.025°C).

While more than half of the 111 companies are based in the United States, the study noted that the US and Europe experience relatively milder economic costs from extreme heat compared with regions such as South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The researchers calculated that every 1% increase in greenhouse gas emissions since 1990 has corresponded with $502 billion in damages from heat alone, a figure excluding losses from other climate change-driven events like hurricanes, floods, and droughts.

The research team drew parallels between the present-day accountability of fossil fuel companies and historical damages caused by pharmaceutical and tobacco industries in the 20th century. Justin Mankin suggested that the study’s findings could bolster legal efforts to hold fossil fuel corporations liable for climate damage. “Our framework can provide robust emissions-based attributions of climate damages at the corporate scale. This should help courts better evaluate liability claims for the losses and disruptions resulting from human-caused climate change,” he said.

Legal actions against fossil fuel companies are ongoing around the world, with the research firm Zero Carbon Analytics reporting 68 climate change-related lawsuits filed globally, over half in the United States. However, many cases face legal challenges due to difficulties in directly attributing specific climate impacts to a single company’s emissions.

Co-author Callahan emphasised the analogy, stating, “Just as a pharmaceutical company would not be absolved from the negative effects of a drug by the benefits of that drug, fossil fuel companies should not be excused for the damage they’ve caused by the prosperity their products have generated.”

Though the study provides compelling data, some experts remain cautious. Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania who was not involved in the research, noted that several other climate variables were unaccounted for, indicating that the reported damage figures could be significantly underestimated.

The EnviroNews Nigeria reports that the publication of this comprehensive research brings renewed focus to the relationship between fossil fuel emissions and climate-related economic losses worldwide, contributing valuable insights into the ongoing debate over corporate responsibility in the climate crisis.

Source: Noah Wire Services