A Los Angeles based ‘philanthro-activist’ group is claiming the world’s largest fossil fuel companies owe at least $209 billion a year in “reparations” for climate damages..A new paper entitled Time to Pay the Piper, published in the scientific journal One Earth argues climate change is a moral issue that will disproportionately impact developing nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America to the tune of $99 trillion from 2025-50, $70 trillion of which it attributes to fossil fuels..“Human-caused climate change has long been acknowledged as essentially an ethical issue that threatens humanity and ravages the planet,” it said. .“Who should bear the cost of the harm caused by anthropogenic climate change? Is it states, or affected individuals, families, and businesses? Is it future generations, who had no role in creating the harm? Or should the burden fall on those agents that have contributed the most to global climate disruption, while in the meantime greatly profiting?”.Using 2022 data from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — which maintains a database of global emissions — it arrived at the dollar figure under a model that calculated gross domestic product (GDP) losses under a 3C warming scenario outlined in by the IPCC in the absence of measures to reduce emissions..It further argues greenhouse gas emissions are the result of the behaviours of three groups: “those who provide the global economy with the products whose combustion generates fossil fuel emissions (producers); those who use carbon fuels (emitters); and those who, under the weight of scientific evidence and international agreements, should (or fail to) act to reduce emissions (political authorities).”.Based on those calculations, it says the world’s 21 largest “carbon majors” share an equal “quota of climate damages” amounting to $23.2 trillion or $209 billion per year out to 2050, and it suggests that number is conservative. Although the Paris Accord holds signatories — including Canada — to 1.5 degrees C by 2050, One Earth is proposing to reduce those reparations if they are able to achieve net zero before the target date..Not surprising, Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil and Shell top the group’s hit list. Including Russian giant Gazprom, those four companies account for a little less than half of its proposed outlays. Canada wasn’t mentioned once in the entire report.. Polluter payReparations of major fossil fuel companies based on share of emissions. .The report is believed to be the first time researchers attempted to quantify the economic damage from climate change. .Justin Winters, One Earth’s co-founder and executive director, previously served as executive director of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation for 13 years, which awarded more than $100 million in grants in 60 countries..The Academy Award-winning actor has a rather embarrassing connection to Calgary. In December 2015, while filming the movie Revenant, he described what he saw as a “terrifying” sign of climate change in Kananaskis after a Chinook blew in, for which he was roundly mocked and ridiculed.. Leonardo DiCaprioScreen star Leonardo DiCaprio should just stick to his own Hollywood scripts rather than weighing in on a Canadian issue. .As far as actually reaching a ‘net-zero’ planet is concerned, ExxonMobil on Thursday said the chance of the world eliminating carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 is remote and therefore financially immaterial to stock exchange disclosure requirements in filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)..The International Energy Agency’s 2050 net zero Emissions does not "meet the level of likelihood required to be considered in our financial statements," Exxon said.
