By Abbas Nazil
A new study published in Nature has found that nearly a quarter of heatwaves recorded between 2000 and 2023 would have been virtually impossible without human-induced climate change.
The research also attributes roughly half of the rise in heatwave intensity this century to the emissions of just 180 major fossil fuel and cement producers, including Chevron, BP, ExxonMobil, and Shell.
Australia’s 2018 heatwave, which marked the hottest December on record, was identified as being 10,000 times more likely due to human-caused climate change.
Other Australian events, including the January 2009 and January 2014 heatwaves, were also made more likely and hotter by climate change.
Lead author Yann Quilcaille of ETH Zurich explained that while companies often argue they are just one among many contributors, their individual emissions alone are sufficient to cause specific climate disasters.
The study provides numerical attribution that directly links corporate emissions to real-world extreme weather events.
The analysis examined 217 heatwaves globally and concluded that 213 of them were worsened by climate change.
For one quarter of these events, the likelihood of occurrence rose more than 10,000 times compared to a world without human emissions.
Experts say this research could serve as a foundation for climate litigation.
Jacqueline Peel, a professor of Climate Law at the University of Melbourne, described such studies as a crucial step in holding corporations accountable for climate damages.
While major companies declined to comment, scientists and legal experts suggest these findings could shift the legal landscape, making it easier to pursue cases similar to historic tobacco litigation.
The research team now plans to expand their analysis to wildfires, droughts, and their socioeconomic consequences, deepening the evidence base that connects corporate emissions to global climate impacts. E
