A new study by the Dartmouth College revealed that the world’s biggest corporations have caused $28 trillion in climate change from 1991 to 2020.
“Our findings demonstrate that it is in fact possible to compare the world as it is to a world absent individual emitters,” said Callahan, who began working on the project as a PhD candidate in Mankin’s research group.
The affluence of the Western economy has been based on fossil fuels,” mentioned Callahan adding, “but just as a pharmaceutical company would not be absolved from the negative effects of a drug by the benefits of that drug, fossil fuel companies should not be excused for the damage they’ve caused by the prosperity their products have generated.”
A 2023 study by the University of Chicago in August 2023 revealed that the global average cost of corporate carbon emissions damages equated to 44% of companies’ operating profit in 2019.
“A key finding is that carbon damages per dollar of profits vary greatly across countries, across industries, and even across firms within a given industry,” says Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC). “This suggests that mandatory disclosure could trigger high emitters, either on their own accord or due to consumer pressure, to reduce emission to match cleaner competitors.”