Fossil fuel firms could be tried for homicide over climate-related deaths, experts say

Public Citizen, a non-profit group, proposed the idea last year to prosecute companies for millions of deaths due to climate crisis

Each year, extreme temperatures take 5 million lives, while 400,000 people die from climate-related hunger and disease and scores perish in floods and wildfires.

Now, researchers are promoting a new legal theory that says fossil fuel companies – which, data show, are the leading contributors to planet-heating pollution – could be tried for homicide for climate-related deaths.