Climate change increased the probability and intensity of more than 200 heat waves across the globe over the last two decades, according to a newly published study.

The study, published Sept. 10 in the journal Nature, linked carbon emissions from some of the world’s top fossil fuel producers, including companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP and Shell, directly to the heat events.

“Climate change has made each of these heat waves more likely and more intense, and the situation has worsened over time,” the study's lead author, Yann Quilcaille, said in a release. Quilcaille researches climate extremes at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology’s Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science in Zurich, Switzerland.

He, along with the study’s other authors, examined 213 heat waves from 2000 to 2023 found in the International Disaster Database, a list of global disasters reported because of casualties, economic losses, emergency declarations and calls for international assistance.

Fifty-five, or about a quarter, of those heat waves “would have been virtually impossible” without human-induced climate change, the authors found.

Among the leading contributors? The 180 largest “carbon majors” ‒ businesses and state-owned entities that produce the most greenhouse gas emissions in the world.

Emissions from these groups, which include oil and gas companies as well as nations, like the former Soviet Union, “contributed to about half of the increase in intensity of heatwaves since preindustrial times,” according to the report. And those contributions are continuing to rise.

Of those organizations, the 33 headquartered in the United States are responsible for 10% of all carbon dioxide emitted from 1850 to 2023. The 33 groups based in China account for 12% of total carbon emissions.

Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, which are among the top 14 biggest carbon majors, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Shell declined to comment.

Other recent studies have drawn similar links between fossil fuel emissions and extreme weather events. One, published by researchers at Dartmouth College in April, found extreme heat caused by emissions from more than 100 companies between 1991 and 2000 cost the world $28 trillion.

Another, published in June, found the deadly heat wave that swept across North America in May and June of this year was made 35 times more likely because of climate change.

Fossil fuel companies are facing a number of lawsuits from cities and states across the country that argue they deliberately misled the public about the environmental impacts of their products.

Richard Heede, a study co-author and director of the Climate Accountability Institute, an environmentalist organization that publishes data on carbon emissions by energy companies, said the report provides evidence “that we need to cut back on fossil fuel emissions ASAP to reduce the threat to human communities.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Feeling the Heat? These fossil fuel giants are to blame, new study says

Reporting by Karissa Waddick, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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