Carbon emissions of oil giants, first related to the heat waves that killed thousands of people
Street in Bucharest. Photo: Anastasia Ehim / Hotnews
A new study shows how fossil fuel companies are directly responsible for the heat waves leading to thousands of deaths. These companies risk being forced to pay damages, writes The Guardian.
The research, carried out by a university in Switzerland, was considered by researchers as “a step forward” in the legal battle to hold the big oil companies liable for the damages caused by the climatic crisis.
About 2,300 people died due to extreme temperatures in 12 major European cities during the severe heat wave since the end of June. Milan was the most affected city in absolute terms, with 317 out of 499 deaths caused by climate change, followed by Paris and Barcelona.
The study found that the emissions from any of the 14 largest companies were sufficient to cause over 50 heat waves that would otherwise have been impossible. That is, these emissions caused the heat waves.
For example, researchers have found that carbon pollution from Exxonmobil fossil fuels-American oil and gas-based gas company-has made 51 heat waves at least 10,000 times more likely than in a world without global warming-the same being valid for Saudi Aramco emissions.
Carbon emissions and deforestation, the main reasons for increasing heat intensity
The new research also showed that the total emissions from the 180 companies in the oil industry included in the analysis were responsible for about half of the increase of heat intensity, the rest most of the deforestation.
“The fact that we can follow their contribution (no of the companies) and we can quantify it could be extremely useful for establishing a possible responsibility,” said Professor Sonia Seneviratne, from Eth Zurich University, the main author of the new report.
Dr. Davide Faranda, research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research, who was not part of the study team, said that “this study adds a crucial stage: it directly links the climatic disasters to the companies whose emissions made possible.
The highest court of the world, the International Court of Justice, decided in July that the non -notifying climate damages could attract the obligation to pay damages, while a German court established in May a legal precedent that fossil fuel companies could be liable for the climatic crisis.
