Crypto News: Climate on trial

The US Supreme Court will hear arguments today in a case that could clear a path for dozens of suits around the country seeking climate damages, or close it.

In the newsletter, we examine how the court’s ruling has implications for a field of science called climate attribution, which identifies the role played by global warming in extreme weather events and has faced criticism by climate skeptics.

And, a look at how the droughts and floods becoming more frequent and severe in London are poised to hurt valuations for the city’s premium homes, which have already suffered from taxes, political turbulence and economic decline.

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Climate’s legal showdown

By Eric Roston

In 2018, local officials in Colorado sued oil companies in state court, charging that pollution from fossil fuels contributed to global warming and harmed Coloradans through extreme summer temperatures, more frequent wildfires and higher risk of some insect-borne diseases.

A refinery in Torrance, California. Photographer: Caroline Brehman/Bloomberg — A refinery in Torrance, California.

Their complaint did not cite potentially key scientific evidence. That’s because it didn’t exist yet.

Just then gaining public recognition was a field of research known as climate attribution, looking at how global warming affects the atmosphere in specific places or during specific weather events.

The field is now advanced, and climate advocates hope to harness it as legal evidence against polluters. But in the US, that may rest on the outcome of the 2018 case, which is now before the Supreme Court. It will hear arguments Monday in Suncor v. Boulder.

The key issue before the justices is whether climate lawsuits can be brought under state tort law, or if federal law preempts that. The high court will either leave open a path for dozens of suits around the US seeking climate damages, or close it.

Or the outcome could be somewhere in between. “It is possible that the court will rule in a way that preserves at least some, if not all, of state tort claims related to climate harms,” said Rachel Rothschild, an associate professor at the University of Michigan Law School, who on Saturday published an article on the topic in the Yale Law Journal.

Residents survey remains of homes that were burned during the Marshall Fire in Superior, Colorado, in Boulder County, on Jan. 2, 2022. Photographer: Chet Strange/Bloomberg — Residents survey remains of homes that were burned during the Marshall Fire in Superior, Colorado, in Boulder County, on Jan. 2, 2022.

Scientists in the last decade honed their ability to conduct rapid analyses of extreme weather events, to estimate within days whether greenhouse gases changed the likelihood or intensity of a given heat wave, flood, cyclone, drought or wildfire. In 2021, the most authoritative global climate science body, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, confirmed extreme-event attribution science as a central topic of study.

This July, the US National Academies published a 250-page assessment of the field that validated the approach, finding human-induced changes to the global climate have “a direct and well-understood impact” on extreme heat and rainfall. (It also noted some “significant challenges” the method faces, including limited observations to draw on and an imperfect understanding of how atmospheric dynamics themselves may be changing.)

As attribution science has become more mainstream, efforts to discredit it have also gained momentum.

Interest-group campaigns have targeted climate scientists whose research could support litigation against fossil-fuel producers. Under pressure from Republican officials, the Federal Judicial Center removed a chapter from its latest science manual for judges that discussed climate research, including on attribution.

Escalating costs

$20 trillion

The amount of spending that could be required globally in the next decade to cope with extreme weather, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence estimate. The figure for 2025 was $1.4 trillion.

Scrutinizing scientists

“You’ve seen more concern expressed about the science by the fossil fuel companies. And that’s because that would show liability.”

Alice Hill

An energy and environment fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who is also a former prosecutor and judge.

A threat to high-end homes

By Olivia Rudgard

More than a decade into a downturn caused by tax hikes, economic and political shocks, London’s high-end housing market has a new villain to contend with — intractable heat and flood risks.

Residential properties in the Kensington and Chelsea district of London. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg — Residential properties in the Kensington and Chelsea district of London.

The assessment comes from Prime Purchase, the branch of Savills UK that represents property buyers in the top end of the real estate market. Guy Meacock, a director at Prime Purchase, says too many premium homes in the UK capital are ill-equipped to deal with the fallout of increasingly frequent extreme-weather shocks.

“If London gets a reputation for having architecture that’s fundamentally not fit for purpose, then it’s not ludicrous to think that it will have as far reaching an impact on property values as anything else,” Meacock said in an interview.

The development follows a summer during which London’s vulnerability to extreme heat was laid bare. Air conditioning remains a rarity, existing in less than 10% of properties countrywide. Even basic cooling features such as shutters and awnings have proved hard to get for some of London’s priciest real estate. More worrying still, perhaps, is the city’s flood risk as freak downpours fueled by climate change leave a growing number of properties — including those with luxury mega-basements — more difficult to insure.

Opinion

Our Oil Columnist Got an EV. A Bad Omen for Big Petroleum?

I have some news: I just bought an electric vehicle. I fueled up my old car for the last time in September — when my shiny new EV arrived last week, that was the end of my relationship with gasoline.

Extreme Heat Poses Growing Threat to Pregnant Women and Babies, Survey Finds

Extreme heat is increasingly threatening pregnant women and babies, according to a multi-country survey of maternity health workers that offers a frontline view of the health consequences of a warming climate.

As Thailand Cracks Down on Foreigners, a Tourist Paradise Reconsiders Its Welcome

Locals say some of the nation’s most popular islands are being reshaped by foreign-linked businesses, land ownership and new communities.

Renault to Keep Up EV Spending in France If Politics Permit: CEO

Renault SA plans to keep on investing in France’s electric-vehicle industry in the coming years, if the political and social will supports it, Chief Executive Francois Provost said.

Your Zero listen

Zero

How China’s Startups Build Future of Clean Tech

China is a hotbed of innovation, filling nearly half of the world’s new patents every year. Much of that work is in the world of clean tech and a whole ecosystem is growing to help make these breakthroughs commercial.

This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi is joined by Tonny Xie, chairman of Bluetech Clean Air Alliance, a China-based nonprofit organization that’s helping to grow the next era of climate startups. Listen now, and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or YouTube to get new episodes of Zero every Thursday.

Listeners’ Choice Calling all fans of Zero! We’re excited to announce that Bloomberg Green’s Zero podcast has been selected as a finalist for the Signal Podcast Awards in the Sustainability & Environment category. Now it’s up to you to help Zero win. Please vote for your favorite podcast by October 15.