Your editorial on Valencia’s tragic floods (1 November) is correct that “weather events that used to be regarded as ‘natural disasters’ are now, rightly, seen instead as climate disasters”. Yet the use of accurate scientific terms to describe what killed more than 200 people is only the first necessary step in reporting such catastrophic events.
When a road accident is reported, readers expect to know more than the road conditions or the momentum of the vehicles involved. Who was responsible? Were they driving dangerously? Was a drunk driver involved in the crash? Similarly, we should always ask who – not only what – fuelled extreme weather events like last week’s floods in Spain.
According to the UN, “fossil fuels … are by far the largest contributor to global climate change, accounting for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions”. Abundant evidence shows that the international oil and gas industry knew about climate change for over six decades. Many fossil fuel companies continue working today to sow distrust in science and delay policies that aim to limit the very worst that the climate crisis will throw at us.
The world faces staggering costs from disasters caused by climate change: clean-up efforts, repairing public infrastructure, rebuilding homes. It’s certainly appropriate for people and governments alike to ask: “Who should pay for all of this?” It is only fair to make oil and gas companies foot the bill.
Eva Saldaña
Executive director, Greenpeace Spain
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