The Climate Bill Is Due. Big Oil Needs To Pick Up The Tab

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In response, Global South leaders have pushed the world's wealthiest nations to create (the still shamefully underfunded) financing mechanisms, such as the Loss and Damage Fund and the Least Developed Countries Fund, to move money to the world's poorest countries to support climate adaptation.

Much more needs to be done to ensure nations that have benefited the most from fossil fuel-driven development are financially supporting those nations hit hardest by climate change. Indeed, this fact will likely underpin the fight for global justice for much of the remainder of the century.
Within wealthy nations, too, however, the question of who's going to pay the upfront costs of adapting to a hotter, harsher world is also becoming a burning question.
In New York State, the cost of climate adaptation is projected at $519 billion by 2050. It was this observation that propelled the passage of New York's Climate Superfund Act in late 2024: the legislation requires fossil fuel corporations to pay $75 billion to New York State over a 25-year period to support projects that would make New York's public infrastructure more resilient in the face of climate change.

New York's Climate Superfund Act makes perfect sense. After all, somebody's going to have to pick up that $519 billion tab―and the industry that has done the most to cause the problem should pay its fair share.

Unfortunately, New York's efforts experienced a recent setback when a federal judge ruled that it cannot enact the legislation. While the case will likely be appealed, it's a frustrating development.
But a single court ruling in a single court can't stop a movement. Climate superfund legislation has been introduced in 16 states and one ruling in a single court district does nothing to stop other states from implementing their own Climate Superfund laws.
And across the world, additional efforts to make fossil fuel polluters pay for the climate crisis are proliferating.

In July, Portugal passed a 33% windfall tax on profits earned by oil companies due to the Iran war. A bill to that end has also been introduced in the US Senate, and been championed by French campaigners and leading UK politicians.

Legislation introduced in California, Hawaii, and New York would enable state attorneys general to sue fossil fuel companies for economic losses from climate disasters. In Connecticut, a bill that would place a 5% surcharge on fossil fuel companies' insurance policies, raising millions for climate resilience programs, is expected to advance in 2027.