Wildfires have reduced large parts of North America to rubble and ash. The largest fossil fuel producers may have played a decisive role in this.
According to the study published Tuesday in the journal “Environmental Research Letters,” the climate-damaging methane and CO2 emissions from the “Big 88” account for more than a third of the areas devastated by wildfires over the past 40 years.
Fires are getting worse
Wildfires in the western United States and southwestern Canada have been on the rise for decades, said lead author Kristina Dahl of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). They are more intense, last longer and cover larger areas. According to them, eight million hectares of land have been destroyed by forest fires between 1986 and 2021 – an area the size of the Czech Republic. Of this, 37 percent went to the account of the major oil and energy companies.
more justice
So far, the costs of reforestation and reconstruction have largely been borne by the general public, according to the climate researcher. “So we wanted to better understand the role of emissions from the fossil fuel industry so that it takes on its fair share of costs.”
For their study, the American climate researchers determined the greenhouse gas emissions that large companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP and Shell emit during the entire cycle of fossil fuels – from extraction to processing to consumption. They also combined different data and climate models to determine the share of the companies in the air drying caused by their CO2 and methane emissions.
responsibility for temperature rise
According to their calculations, the emissions from the “Big 88” are responsible for the increase in global average temperature by 0.5 degrees since the beginning of the 20th century. Warmer air, however, absorbs more water from plants and soil, and water vapor pressure drops — by as much as 11 percent in the western United States. This causes the vegetation to dry out faster and make it more susceptible to fires.
responsibility shifted to individuals
For decades, the industry has shifted its responsibility to individuals, says climate researcher Dahl. That “we need to reduce our individual carbon footprint” is a “story driven primarily by the fossil fuel industry”. Dahl’s USC has been calling for years for the US government to investigate “industry disinformation campaigns” aimed at denying climate science findings.
Source: Krone
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