Study Reveals Major Fossil Fuel Firms Contribute to Heatwave Rise
(MENAFN) New research published Wednesday in the journal Nature reveals that major fossil fuel companies and cement producers have directly contributed to the rising frequency and intensity of deadly heatwaves.
By examining 213 significant heatwaves from 2000 to 2023, scientists determined that nearly one-quarter of these extreme events would have been “virtually impossible” without human-driven climate change.
The study attributed these deadly heatwaves to greenhouse gas emissions from 180 leading fossil fuel and cement companies—dubbed the “carbon majors”—revealing that every firm played a significant role in intensifying the crisis.
Each company was linked to a minimum of 16 heatwaves, with industry giant ExxonMobil connected to 51 events, making them at least 10,000 times more probable than they would have been in a world absent of the firm’s emissions.
Compared to preindustrial levels, global warming increased the likelihood of heatwaves by approximately 20 times between 2000 and 2009, soaring to nearly 200 times more likely from 2010 to 2019.
The study concluded that emissions from these carbon majors account for half of the rise in heatwave intensity since the mid-19th century.
This groundbreaking evidence on individual corporate accountability for climate change impacts could now be leveraged in legal battles, potentially compelling these companies to pay for resulting damages.
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