Researchers from Dartmouth University in the United States have, for the first time, mapped out the financial cost to society of pollution generated by major companies that fuels climate change.
The study, published on Wednesday in the journal 'Nature,' calculates the financial toll exacted by the 111 largest polluters, including ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, and BP.
For example, emissions from US oil company Chevron are estimated to have cost society between $791 billion (€697 billion) and $3.6 trillion (€3.2 trillion) from 1991 to 2020.
The global economy could be $28 trillion (€25 trillion) wealthier without the extreme heat caused by these companies’ emissions, according to the researchers. The intense heat from the top five polluters has reduced GDP by more than 1% annually in regions like South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Current lawsuits by governments against such companies are often contested or delayed because linking specific climate impacts to emissions from a particular company is challenging.
The research may aid courts in better assessing the liability of companies for natural disasters and associated human losses. This could lead to more straightforward convictions of polluting companies for their roles in climate-induced disasters, such as droughts, floods, and hurricanes.
"The affluence of the Western economy has been based on fossil fuels,"says researcher Christopher Callahan, who co-authored the study, "but 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."
