Fossil Fuel Companies’ Emissions Responsible for More Than Half of Ocean Acidification

Emissions traced to the world's largest fossil fuel companies are liable for more than half of the ocean's acidification since pre-industrial times, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the scientific journal Environmental Research Letters. 

The study measured the amount of ocean acidification that occurred as a result of carbon released during fossil fuel extraction, production, and use and focused on the 88 major gas, oil and coal producers and cement manufacturers. 

Companies' emissions during two time periods: 1880 to 2015 and 1965 to 2015, according to the study. Recent research has noticed that the oil and gas industry was aware of the climate risks of their products since at least the mid-1960s.

Fossil fuel companies, once the risks became widely known, launched a multimillion-dollar disinformation campaign to convince the public that climate science was "too vague" to warrant action.

"Burning fossil fuels is by far the largest driver of ocean acidification, but we weren't able to [trace] how much [each] fossil fuel company contributed to the problem, and in what [means]," according to study author Rachel Licker. 

"[Researchers could] now quantify how much more acidic the ocean has [grown] as a [consequence] of each fossil fuel company's products," she added.

Licker and her team used a dataset produced by the Climate Accountability Institute. They borrowed their methodology from a 2017 study that linked global temperature increase and sea-level rise to product-related emissions of specific fossil fuel producers for slightly different timeframes. 

"We [took an example of the] previous work that [links] carbon emissions to the [biggest] industrial carbon producers and attributes climate impacts to the emissions a [step] further by [demonstrating] the [possible] associated losses and damages from ocean acidification," the authors wrote.

The researchers, using their 3-D map, revealed that five regions where ocean acidification and related changes in ocean chemistry are affecting nearby communities whose livelihoods depend on marine life.

Scott Doney, study co-author and the Kington Professor of Environmental Change at the University of Virginia, said ocean acidification makes it more challenging for many aquatic organisms to build their shells and skeletons. 

 "The organisms at [danger] from acidification [create] the foundation of the [aquatic ecosystem] food chain-including some types of plankton, algae, shellfish, and coral that may strive to grow and survive in [the] future warmer, more acidic ocean," the co-author added.

Since coral reefs are now at a tipping point, recovery attempts are further hampered by ocean acidification, which prevents corals from rebuilding and reproducing.

Loss of marine life can have wide-reaching results for communities that depend on tourism and fishing for their livelihoods. Fishing is also a primary source of food in some regions.

Peter Frumhoff, study co-author and director of science and policy at UCS, said frontline communities and affected [stakeholders] are now calling on fossil fuel companies to take responsibility for their outsized contribution to the problem as impacts worsen and become more costly.

"Companies [should] have acted responsibly to [notify] the public about risks and taken [steps] to reduce emissions," Frumhoff said. "Our study can inform decisions about their responsibilities for damages that could have-and should have-been avoided by putting a number on fossil fuel company contributions to disruptive ocean acidification," he added.