Public Citizen Outlines Legal Path for Climate Homicide Prosecutions

The memo, co-authored by legal experts including George Washington University professor Donald Braman and former federal prosecutor Cindy Cho, focuses on the lethal heatwaves that have become increasingly common. It cites the July 2023 heatwave in the American Southwest as a primary example, where Maricopa County, Arizona, recorded 403 heat-related deaths—a figure far exceeding the county’s annual murder count. The authors argue that advances in attribution science now allow prosecutors to draw a clear line between carbon emissions, global temperature spikes, and specific, fatal weather events.

Potential defendants named in the framework include major industry players such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, and the American Petroleum Institute. The legal strategy hinges on proving that these companies knowingly created a grave risk of death while pursuing profits. While civil lawsuits have long been the standard tool for climate litigation, the authors contend that criminal charges are necessary to address the scale of the harm inflicted. Activist Bill McKibben, who has championed the report, noted that the legal system must now decide whether to recognize these deaths as crimes, marking a potential shift in how the public and legal officials view corporate liability in the climate era.