We’re paying for climate change. We pay in our rising insurance costs against fires, flooding, hurricanes, and more. We pay in our tax dollars going toward climate change mitigation and clean-up, but not for climate solutions that actually work. We pay when our property gets destroyed or damaged after a climate change-induced event. We pay in rising food, water, and energy prices as these become harder to acquire as we destroy the planet. And more.
But, it’s not our fault. Yes, we have a role to play in stewarding the earth and making it a safe place for us all. Yes, our small actions matter, and we do have a carbon footprint. But who are the real culprits of climate change and why aren’t they paying their fair share?
Let’s talk about the Make Polluters Pay Movement.
Who’s Responsible?
Yes, we all play a part in what is happening to the planet. Driving, eating meat, using plastic, using technology, AI, and more all contribute to environmental harm. We know that. But I alone, you alone, heck, all of us combined on all of my socials have only a fraction of the impact as the world’s most wasteful companies, corporations, and even individuals.
Make Polluters Pay states that “Big Oil has known about climate change since the 1970s and they have spent decades discrediting climate science, downplaying its implications for their operations and protecting the bottom line of their companies at all costs.
In the 1970s Exxon scientists first predicted the course of global temperature rise with striking accuracy.
In 1988, Nasa scientist James Hansen issued a dire warning about climate change when he testified in front of Congress; internally, Exxon responded by doubling down on their commitment to preserving their ‘business options.’”
Earth Day states that “The burning of fossil fuels like oil, coal, and gas contribute to 75% of the total global greenhouse emissions and 90% of the total global carbon dioxide emissions.
It has been found that about one hundred companies are responsible for more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, since 1988 four companies have been the biggest emitters — ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron, with their combined emissions alone, totaled nearly 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Since the 1970’s, these companies have known that the production of their products would result in environmental degradation, yet they continued on the same path.”
We know, factually, that fossil fuel companies are those most responsible for climate change. But this also extends to other wasteful companies such as Coca-Cola, Amazon, SpaceX, and more. Namely, the billionaires in charge of those companies.
How much does climate change destruction cost?
Fossil fuel emissions are the primary driver of these changes: billion-dollar disasters, including more intense droughts, longer wildfire seasons, heavier rainfall events, and higher storm surges from sea level rise. The U.S. experienced a record-breaking 28 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2023, surpassing the previous record of 22 events in 2020. This equates to nearly $93 billion in damages in just the US in just one year.
This reflects a disturbing trend towards more frequent and costly extreme events. The increasing frequency of billion-dollar disasters means less time between events to recover, especially in highly vulnerable areas.
In 2020 alone, oil and gas sector businesses shelled out $9.5 million in advertising that pushed messages about how essential fossil fuels are to the energy mix; that these corporations are good for communities and espouse patriotic values; and, most of all, that the industry is invested in climate solutions.
Meanwhile, the same sector poured over $112 million into political lobbying that year. In 2021, that number ticked up to over $115 million, accommodating a payroll of 746 lobbyists, one of whom was infamously caught on camera bragging about weekly meetings with Joe Manchin.
So, these companies have the money to spend to clean up their mess and/or go green. But they’d rather keep profiting off of our destruction and use that money to greenwash and lobby.
It’s estimated that climate change would cost $38 TRILLION per year globally by 2049. Unfortunately, it will also cost a lost of money to stop climate change and provide climate change mitigations to everyone on the planet. Yes, also trillions of dollars. But, if we’re spending billions and trillions every year on disaster clean up, let’s move that money around and use that money to solve climate change in the first place.
Climate Superfunds
Make Polluters Pay states that “The idea of a climate superfund is simple: if you make a mess, you should have to help pay to clean it up. Based on traditional superfund laws, ‘climate superfunds’ would force the largest emitters to pay into a fund based on their fair share of emissions over an established period (often the last 30 years). The revenue would then be used for climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.
In 2024, Vermont and New York became the first and second states to pass climate superfund legislation. Four more states are actively considering proposals and many more are expected to follow.”
A traditional superfund site, according to the US EPA is, “A Superfund site is a severely polluted location in the United States contaminated by hazardous waste, chemicals, or toxic materials. These areas—which include old factories, mines, landfills, and industrial plants—are designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to receive long-term federal cleanup.”
So this climate solution isn’t necessarily to stop climate change, but to tackle other environmental issues such as land, water, and air pollution as well as physical pollution like plastic.
But, Columbia University states that, “Each of the Climate Superfund bills seeks to recover costs from the highest-producing fossil fuel companies, and each bill directs recovered money towards the creation of state-managed funds to pay for infrastructure that is “designed to avoid, moderate, repair or adapt to negative impacts of climate change, or to assist communities, households and businesses in preparing for future climate change-driven disruptions.” Tying the proposed bills to state expenditures, rather than damages, avoids one of the more difficult tasks in climate change attribution—assigning a specific dollar value to the damages attributable to a particular entity. However, state lawmakers may still need to justify cost recovery estimates and could potentially do so by using attribution research into state-level climate impacts and adaptation costs to show that certain damages are attributable to climate change and the costs states incur as a result.”
Climate Lawsuits
There’s a growing movement to make polluters pay their fair share for the damage their lies and pollution have inflicted on our climate and communities. Since 2017, 9 states and 30+ municipalities have filed lawsuits suing Big Oil to hold them accountable for purposefully spreading climate denial and lying about their role in the climate crisis. There are over 3,000 cases are tracked globally in databases like the Climate Litigation Database, targeting public nuisance, consumer fraud, and constitutional rights violations. Check out the full map here.
Yale states that “In the U.S., we’ve not had much legislation that’s specifically designed to target climate change as a problem, so when people turn to the courts you see all different kinds of theories being brought. Lawyers use securities laws to say that companies are deceiving investors by not taking account of climate change risks. We also see people using existing environmental laws—like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, or the National Environmental Policy Act—to try to force climate action.”
That actually makes it make so much more sense why the Trump Administration wants to rescind these laws and acts. It makes them harder to sue for destroying the planet. Yale explains more about what Climate Lawsuits are and how they work.
What we can do
Even if you’re not a lawyer, you can still help fight for polluters to pay their fair share! Here’s what we can do:
Sign petitions: here’s one now from Make Polluters Pay! I also have signed up for the free Resist Bot tool that sends petitions to my message app every single day. Many of these have to do with holding polluters accountable and contacting my reps to demand that they implement and stick to climate legislation.
Check out the Make Polluters Pay Toolkit. This is chock-full of resources and articles to read up on so that we are better equipped to talk about these topics to our friends, families, coworkers, and online. So…
Use your voice! Now that you know these things, spread the word! Share this video with others. Sign petitions and then share the link so that others can sign them. Have these hard conversations. The health of the planet and us relies on us facing these fears.
Try Craftivism! Make your own art to share around town. If you’re not an artist, check out the Make Polluters Pay Art Collaborations page. There are zines and posters that can inspire you or you can simply print out to share around your town. If you’re an artist, you may even be able to be one of the collaborators on this page!
Make Polluters Pay week of action. It already passed this year, but stay tune for 2027 and years ahead. This is full of in-person events, protests, and education.
Contact your reps! Use the free 5 Calls app. You just have to put in your zip code and it gives you scripts you can read to your reps. They also provide you the phone numbers. Demand that they stop taking Big Oil money, implement climate policy, and let them know that they don’t have your vote if they aren’t doing anything for the planet which means they aren’t doing anything for you!
We bear the brunt of climate change. We face the disasters, breathe in the smoke, have higher prices for food, and have to pay out of pocket and with our tax dollars to clean up this mess that we hardly have a part it. We shouldn’t be funding the majority of the clean up.
But, it doesn’t have to remain this way. Join me in the fight to turn this around and make polluters pay their fair share so that we can keep living on a healthy planet. We CAN do this and create the future we all deserve.
Thank you for reading along. Remember that you have power and your actions truly do matter today and in the long run.
Emma
