world's largest corporations have collectively caused approximately $28 trillion in climate-related damage.

Question

​Yes, the claim that the world's largest corporations have collectively caused approximately $28 trillion in climate-related damage is supported by a recent study published in the journal Nature. This research, conducted by scientists from Dartmouth College, utilized historical emissions data and advanced climate modeling to quantify the economic impacts attributable to each company's pollution. The study found that over half of the total damage is linked to just ten major fossil fuel companies, including Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, Chevron, and ExxonMobil. For instance, emissions from Chevron alone have been found to raise global temperatures by 0.025°C. These findings aim to bolster legal efforts to hold corporations accountable for climate damage, similar to past actions against tobacco companies. While no climate liability lawsuit against a major carbon emitter has yet been successful, the study's robust methodology provides a scientific basis for attributing specific harms to individual emitters, potentially influencing future legal and policy decisions. 

Answer 1

The claim that the world's largest corporations have collectively caused approximately $28 trillion in climate-related damage is true. Dartmouth had a research team study this question. "Dartmouth University researchers find that the global economy would be $28 trillion richer if extreme heat caused by climate emissions from the top 111 carbon majors had never happened" (Truthout). Ten fossil fuel companies are responsible for half of those losses. These companies include "Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, etc" (APNews). The goal of the study was to prove that there is a scientific link between companies and financial loss because of their carbon emissions. The research team was able to track using a simulation to translate emissions from companies to Earth's global average surface temperature. "Using this approach, they determined that pollution from Chevron, for example, has raised the Earth's temperature by 0.45 degrees Fahrenheit (0.25 degrees Celsius)" (APNews). This study aims to hold companies responsible for their contribution to the use of fossil fuels. 

https://truthout.org/articles/worlds-top-111-corporations-have-caused-28t-in-climate-damages-study-finds/#:~:text=About-,World's%20Top%20111%20Corporations%20Have%20Caused%20%2428T%20in%20Climate,order%20to%20hold%20them%20accountable.

https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/04/study-lays-out-scientific-path-recouping-climate-costs

https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-liability-lawsuits-damage-trillions-5ad21e47b2aa16cc90cb7669f56297f1

Comments

Great job using multiple sources to cross reference your claims and further strengthen your fact check. Very disturbing to hear these organizations have had so much impact in global warming and aren’t doing much to curb their carbon footprint. I like how you also included a number identifying the amount of users who have been leaving a carbon footprint.

Answer 2

This claim seems to be true. Not only is AP News a known-to-be reliable source, the actual article gives trustworthy citations including from the Dartmouth College research team (original research: https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/04/study-lays-out-scientific-path-recouping-climate-costs ) and Nature (a well known academic journal/ original research: https://www.nature.com/). Upon searching this topic, many other well known journalist groups (like U.S. News & World Report) have covered it within the same timeframe, showing the relevance of information. Much of the statistics line up with all these sources including how $28 trillion in climate damage have been rooted from the world's biggest corporations, how 111 companies are mainly involved, 10 fossil fuel providers involved, etc. Overall the information is concise and matches with existing research published beforehand.

Citations:

https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-liability-lawsuits-damage-trillions-5ad21e47b2aa16cc90cb7669f56297f1

https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2025-04-23/the-worlds-biggest-companies-have-caused-28-trillion-in-climate-damage-a-new-study-estimates

Comments

This is a strong fact-check overall, and I appreciate how you traced the claim back to the original Dartmouth study. That’s a great example of the SIFT method in action—especially when you linked the Nature article directly. One suggestion, though: I think your post could dig a little deeper into how the study actually calculated the $28 trillion figure. For instance, did the researchers include only direct economic damage, or were health and social costs factored in too? Also, it might help to briefly mention any critiques or limitations noted in the study—like assumptions in the climate models or the challenge of legally attributing harm to specific corporations. Adding that would show more nuance and strengthen your evaluation of the claim’s truthfulness.

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I thought your answer was very clear and I was able to feel comfortable knowing the initial claim was correct. You broke down the claim even more while talking about the first sources and why they are trustworthy. I was able to have a clear rock solid answer to the initial question after this comment. The sources you chose where very strong and a very credible sources, which continues to affirm the claim to be true.

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Your response to this claim is really well done. There is a lot of evidence and reliable sources to support it. I liked how you used more than one source and explained why they are trustworthy. If anything were to be added, I would suggest naming the top three most prominent companies out of the 111 you mentioned. It just adds a bit more context and detail. Overall, very well done!

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I really like how you were able to verify the extent to which the claim is true. I also really like how you went into detail explaining why it is true. For example, in your response, specifically listing which large companies are known to be proving responsible for some climate problems really clears up my understanding of the claim as well as the context of the academic debate. By engaging in more specific details, it forces the leads the reader to believe the source. Building upon the specificity, AP news is a known, credible source, which builds up the trustworthiness of such a claim. Great response!

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You did a good job tracing the credibility of the sources. I agree that AP News, Nature, and Dartmouth are all strong indicators this study is legit. After doing my own research, the only thing I would say is if there was a way your factcheck could briefly mention how climate accountability isn't just about scientific accuracy, but also legal, political, and ehtical frameworks, especially since lawsuits are part of the headline.

Answer 3

The claim that the world’s largest corporations have caused approximately $28 trillion in climate-related damage is backed by solid evidence. Many sources have verified these findings including CBS News in which they highlight that same research. The research, conducted by a Dartmouth College team and published in the journal Nature, analyzed emissions data from individual companies and connected them to specific global temperature increases and economic costs. According to the report, 111 fossil fuel and cement producers were responsible for significant environmental harm, with the top 10 companies—such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, Gazprom, and Saudi Aramco—linked to over half the total estimated damages. The study also notes that Chevron's emissions alone have contributed to a measurable rise in global temperatures. While legal action against such companies has yet to succeed, this research offers a scientifically rigorous method for assigning financial responsibility to individual polluters and may influence future legal and policy decisions. Overall, the information is supported by credible journalism and multi-faceted science.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fossil-fuel-companies-emissions-climate-damage-study/

Answer 4

Fact check

This fact check is quite true and sad to be honest. According to The Economic Times, “A Dartmouth College research team came up with the estimated pollution caused by 111 companies, with more than half of the total dollar figure coming from 10 fossil fuel providers: Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, National Iranian Oil Co., Pemex, Coal India and the British Coal Corporation.

For comparison, $28 trillion is a shade less than the sum of all goods and services produced in the United States last year.” This fact check is also sad because although it's the big companies doing all the pollution, they make it seem like the general public needs to fix the problem when its truly the big name corporations. 

Works Cited:https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/the-worlds-biggest-companies-have-caused-28-trillion-in-climate-damage-a-new-study-estimates/articleshow/120558667.cms?from=mdr

Answer 5

This claim regarding the amount of money relating to climate-related damage is TRUE. CBS News discusses how the emissions from many major fossil fuel companies cause major heat that causes all this climate-related damage. Dartmouth College researches are attempting to make it so there major companies are held responsible and liable for the damage their are causing to the larger environment. While there is much discussion on if "climate liability" is possible the claim that these companies are responsible for damages is very clearly true.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fossil-fuel-companies-emissions-climate-damage-study/

Answer 6

It seems like this is true; the claim is coming from the Associated Press, a reputable news agency. The AP article references the original source for the claim. The original source is a scientific study authored by climate economists and published in Nature, a top scientific journal, which is very credible.  Additional reporting on the same study is in The Guardian and Scientific American, which both confirm the study’s key findings. The study used historical emissions data, economic modeling, and climate attribution science to give an estimate of how much monetary damage has been done. 

Read the study summary from Dartmouth College

Read the article in The Guardian

Read the article in Scientific American

Answer 7

After delving deeper, the claim that "The world's largest corporations have collectively caused approximately $28 trillion in climate-related damage" is true. Plus, the topic is backed up by many existing studies/research. The source you provided to support the claim is well-informed, uses other citations to back the claims within the article, and uses many other reliable sources. Sources like CBS also used the Dartmouth College research, and some sources (though not all very reliable) cover the same as the article you provided to support the claim. I have only cited the CBS article, as when researching the topic further, most if not all, the articles I came across backed their information with the same Dartmouth College study as the AP News and CBS articles. 

Link:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fossil-fuel-companies-emissions-climate-damage-study/

Answer 8

This seems to be true. AP (Associated Press) is a well-respected, known publication. Seth Borenstein, a science writer on the AP staff, writes the article,  so he is a qualified reporter. The article itself uses trustworthy citations such as Zero Carbon Analytics (here), and the Dartmouth college research team (here). If you look deeper into the topic you can find multiple publications with the same report (here). Overall the information is corroborable and grounded in fact.

http://uniladtech.com/science/report-reveals-climate-damage-worlds-top-companies-707615-20250428

https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-liability-lawsuits-damage-trillions-5ad21e47b2aa16cc90cb7669f56297f1

https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/04/study-lays-out-scientific-path-recouping-climate-costs

Answer 9

I would say this claim is true. One study posted proves this with the finding that over 111 million companies deemed responsible for $28 trillion in economic damages from 1991-2020 through heat. This study, by Dartmouth students shows the ways how these companies have costed us economically. Some of these fossil fuel giants are ExxonMobil, Chevron, Gazprom, and Saudi Aramco. This makes my point even more clear because the biggest contributors are the most well-known ones which is a huge problem.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2025/04/23/climate-attribution-damages-lawsuit/

https://www.axios.com/2025/04/25/nature-study-climate-heat-litigation?

Answer 10

Yes this claim is true. According to the Washington post we can calculate the total cost of the oil giants. "Collectively, greenhouse emissions from 111 fossil fuel companies caused the world $28 trillion in damage from extreme heat from 1991 to 2020, according to a paper published Wednesday in Nature." (The Washington post) There is currently still no lawsuit pending but I am sure that will change in the future