States ramp up efforts to make fossil fuel giants pay for climate damages
A year after devastating floods swept Vermont, new science is strengthening state-level efforts to hold oil and gas companies accountable for climate-driven destruction.
Austyn Gaffney reports for The New York Times.
In short:
- Vermont passed the first U.S. law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay for climate damages, a model now spreading to other states like New York and Massachusetts.
- A new Nature study introduces a refined model of attribution science that connects emissions from individual companies to economic losses from climate events, such as heat waves.
- Chevron alone may be responsible for $3.6 trillion in global GDP losses due to heat-related impacts, though the company disputes the study’s scientific basis and claims the legal approach is unconstitutional.
Key quote:
“We believe in openly transparent science, especially since the work was paid for by U.S. taxpayers.”
— Justin Mankin, geography professor at Dartmouth College and an author of the Nature paper
Why this matters:
Climate change lawsuits are multiplying, and attribution science is rapidly evolving to meet the legal and moral demands of a warming world. For years, scientists could point to fossil fuel emissions as a global problem, but couldn’t say which polluter caused which storm, fire, or drought. That’s changing. The new generation of models can link specific oil and gas companies to billions — sometimes trillions — of dollars in climate damages. And states like Vermont are ready to use that information to recover funds. As science gets better at assigning blame, pressure grows on governments and courts to act. And as state-level laws push forward in defiance of federal resistance, the political and legal fights over who should pay for climate change are just beginning to intensify.
Read more: Oil companies seek legal immunity modeled on gun industry’s shield from lawsuits
