News
Fossil Fuel Companies Should Pay Trillions in ‘Climate Reparations,’ New Study Argues
A peer-reviewed paper proposes that the top 21 polluting companies pay $5.4 trillion over 26 years to compensate for climate damages.
By Nicholas Kusnetz
One of the most contentious climate policy debates revolves, unsurprisingly, around money. Who should pay the monumental sums needed to protect against extreme weather and transition to clean energy, particularly because the damage has been caused by fossil fuel pollution from the rich, while the costs will be borne disproportionately by the poor?
Related Knowledge Center: Carbon capture
State of Play
The federal government is investing heavily in the development of carbon capture and storage (or sequestration), which offers the enticing prospect of preventing carbon dioxide emissions produced during combustion from entering the atmosphere and contributing to climate change. But the technologies involved, while proven, remain expensive, an obstacle to widespread adoption.