Neue Forschungsergebnisse verbinden die Kohlenstoffemissionen von großen Unternehmen mit fossilen Brennstoffen direkt mit zahlreichen tödlichen Hitzewellen und markieren einen erheblichen Fortschritt bei den rechtlichen Anstrengungen, um diese Unternehmen für den Schadensersatz des Klimawandels zur Rechenschaft zu ziehen.

Carbon emissions from the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies have been directly linked to dozens of deadly heatwaves for the first time, according to a new analysis. The research has been hailed as a “leap forward” in the legal battle to hold big oil accountable for the damages being caused by the climate crisis.

The research found that the emissions from any one of the 14 biggest companies were by themselves enough to cause more than 50 heatwaves that would otherwise have been virtually impossible. The study shows, in effect, that those emissions caused the heatwaves.

The carbon pollution from ExxonMobil’s fossil fuels, for example, made 51 heatwaves at least 10,000 times more likely than in an unheated world, the researchers found, as did the emissions from Saudi Aramco.

Global heating is making heatwaves more frequent and more intense across the globe, contributing to at least 500,000 heat-related deaths a year. The searing heatwave that struck the Pacific Northwest of the US in 2021 was made almost 3C hotter, for example.

The new research found that the total emissions from the 180 “carbon major” companies included in the analysis were responsible for about half the increase in intensity, with emissions due to forest destruction making up most of the rest. It also found that the 213 heatwaves studied became 200 times more likely on average from 2010 to 2019 due to the climate crisis.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09450-9

What makes this study stand really important that it moves beyond the general link between fossil fuels and climate change and actually ties specific companies’ emissions to specific heatwaves.

Scientists did this using attribution models, which compare a “heated” world with today’s CO₂ levels against a modelled world without those extra emissions.

So they can measure how much more likely extreme heat events became because of human activity.

When they traced emissions back to individual companies they found that even a single firm’s output was enough to make dozens of heatwaves thousands of times more likely.

In real-life terms it means events that were once virtually impossible are now happening regularly and they can be tied or easily linked to identifiable sources.

This kind of concrete evidence doesn’t just clarify the science it also opens the door for legal and policy accountability since it narrows responsibility very specifically