One of the nation’s most respected scientific institutions is expected to release a report on Thursday that could be used to support billion-dollar climate lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry.
The report has been under development for more than three years by a panel of experts assembled by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which Congress created 163 years ago to advise policymakers on pressing scientific issues.
The National Academies’ report will assess the state of extreme weather attribution science, a growing field of climate research that seeks to measure how global warming has altered specific natural disasters.
It comes as states and municipalities are pursuing about two dozen legal cases against energy companies that they argue have contributed to climate change. The lawsuits seek billions of dollars in compensation for damages from disasters like heat waves and storms. One case filed by Multnomah County, Oregon, is asking for $51 billion from the fossil fuel industry after a heat dome killed 69 people in 2021. Most of the money would be used to fortify infrastructure from the effects of rising temperatures.
