{
  "id": 10998692,
  "title": "Past emissions will continue warming the planet for decades",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/past-emissions-will-continue-warming-the-planet-for-decades",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-30T17:24:28.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Futurity",
    "slug": "futurity",
    "url": "https://www.futurity.org/past-emissions-top-polluters-3347662/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "New research reveals that emissions from oil, gas, coal, and cement will continue to influence the environment and intensify the risk of extreme weather conditions for decades to come. Ascribing responsibility for damages caused by such disasters is often straightforward, as in the case of a flooded house due to a leaky faucet. However, larger, costlier, and more complex disasters present a more challenging link between cause and effect. Recent advancements in climate science have improved the ability to connect extreme weather events, also known as climate disasters, to climate change. The findings from this research provide a strong foundation for lawsuits seeking to hold major emitters accountable for deaths and damages caused by climate disasters. The University of Washington study extends this research by demonstrating that past emissions from the world's top 178 oil, gas, coal, and cement producers will continue to impact the environment for decades. The study, published in PLOS Climate, reveals that even if greenhouse gas emissions were to cease immediately, the effects of carbon emissions would persist for millennia, as these emitters have released over a trillion tons of carbon dioxide. The warming effect of these emissions will last until fossil fuel burning is completely halted, with the Earth remaining approximately 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than preindustrial levels. Researchers used the Finite Amplitude Impulse Response, or FaIR, model to simulate global climate conditions up to the year 2500, under both low and high emissions scenarios, both with and without accounting for the emissions from carbon majors through 2024. The findings indicate that in scenarios with limited greenhouse gas emissions, carbon majors are responsible for a significant portion of the warming above preindustrial levels. However, even in high emissions scenarios, where fossil fuel burning continues unabated, the temperature increase due to carbon majors remains substantial. The researchers emphasize that the total temperature change attributable to carbon majors is relatively independent of future emissions, meaning that the responsibility for the warming effect is not solely confined to the present but will continue to impact future generations. The link between greenhouse gases and global warming has been understood for decades, yet major emitters have been accused of concealing this knowledge and employing deceptive tactics to spread misinformation. This study adds to the growing body of evidence that the gases released by leading emitters, from extraction to combustion, may also contribute to future disasters. The persistent warming caused by past emissions underscores the urgency of addressing ongoing fossil fuel production, as it will exacerbate climate disasters for many decades to come. The study concludes that new legal battles regarding accountability are likely to emerge in the coming years, as the consequences of past emissions persist for generations.",
  "summary": "Past emissions from the top 178 oil, gas, coal, and cement producers will continue affecting our environment for decades to come.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}