Science, Attribution Studies, & Identifying Climate Criminals

A new scientific study is making it easier to link specific fossil fuel companies and countries to specific extreme weather events, which could matter for lawsuits over climate damage. Published in the journal Earth's Future, the research by Christopher Callahan of Indiana University found a direct relationship between how much carbon dioxide an emitter puts into the atmosphere and the increased odds of extreme heat or rainfall. As one example, the study found emissions from the United States raised the risk of recent extreme heat by at least 50 percent across a third of the globe, and emissions from major oil companies increased the odds of the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave by 31 percent.

This kind of research matters because more than 40 lawsuits have been filed since 2017 by states, cities, and tribal governments against oil and gas companies over climate damage, and at least five have reached the stage where companies may have to hand over documents and testify about what they knew about climate change. The fossil fuel industry has pushed back, including an effort reported this year to discredit similar climate science findings, and it's lobbying Congress for legal protection from these lawsuits.

There's nothing here that requires action on your part. It's a look at how the legal and scientific groundwork is being laid for holding fossil fuel companies accountable for the extreme weather increasingly affecting homes and communities.