A quick disclaimer here: I was only able to access/read the abstract – so I leave it to others to opine on in depth legal implications of what the authors claim in the whole of the paper.
A new peer-reviewed paper Carbon majors and the scientific case for climate liability was published in Nature that – if its findings become widely accepted – will drastically change the legal risk landscape for companies emitting greenhouse gases:
“Using scope 1 and 3 emissions data from major fossil fuel companies, peer-reviewed attribution methods and advances in empirical climate economics, we illustrate the trillions in economic losses attributable to the extreme heat caused by emissions from individual companies… Drawing quantitative linkages between individual emitters and particularized harms is now feasible, making science no longer an obstacle to the justiciability of climate liability claims.”
Wow. This could be huge, but we’re a long way off from seeing these claims going to – or being upheld in – court. There will no doubt be much controversy surrounding the paper from both the scientific and legal communities. It is still worth keeping on your radar screen though.
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