How much have fossil fuel giants contributed to heat waves such as B.C.'s heat dome?

A new study suggests recent heat waves were significantly more intense because of planet-warming emissions from 180 of the world's biggest fossil fuel companies.

It's one of the first peer-reviewed papers to link dozens of climate-fuelled weather events to specific companies. 

The study led by a group of Swiss-based climate scientists says about one-quarter of the 213 recent heat waves they studied, including the 2021 B.C. heat dome, would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change.

It says emissions from some individual companies, including relatively smaller ones and some of Canada's oil and gas producers, would have been enough to make otherwise impossible heat waves happen.

The researchers also linked emissions from the group of cement and fossil fuel producers to about half the increase in heat wave intensity caused by human-caused climate change.

The study attributes the entire value chain of fossil fuel emissions to the producers, an approach criticized by industry groups that argue they don't bear responsibility for end-use emissions, such as car exhaust. 

Climate groups suggest that reasoning downplays how major oil companies have long known burning fossil fuels could contribute to dangerous climate change and nonetheless continued to expand production and shape demand. 

The study published in the leading science journal Nature is being welcomed by some Canadian climate advocates as a way to advance efforts to hold major oil and gas companies responsible to pay for some of the costs of climate change.  

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh