Home / Environment / Climate Change: Can We Blame It For Disasters?
Climate Change: Can We Blame It For Disasters?
20 Nov
Summary
- Attribution science links environmental disasters to climate change.
- Models compare real-world events to simulated worlds without climate change.
- Linking fossil fuel companies to specific climate damages is becoming possible.
The emerging field of climate attribution science seeks to quantify the influence of human-induced climate change on extreme weather events. Researchers analyze events such as Delhi's severe smog, increasingly acidic rainfall across India, and flash floods in the Himalayas.
By comparing real-world occurrences with climate models that simulate scenarios with and without climate change, scientists estimate alterations in event probability and intensity. While attributing heatwaves is generally more accurate, methods are improving for extreme rain events and other disasters.
Recent advancements in modeling and satellite data are enabling more precise attribution, potentially linking specific fossil fuel companies to climate-related economic losses and opening avenues for legal accountability.
