Past emissions from carbon majors — the top 178 oil, gas, coal and cement producers — will continue impacting Earth’s environment for decades to come, according to a new study that emphasises the only stable future is one in which no fossil fuels are burned.Dargan Frierson and Lauren Henrie from the University of Washington said that the environment will not revert to its old self, even if greenhouse gas emissions were to plummet tomorrow.Carbon majors have historically emitted more than a trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide, a substantial portion of which will remain in the air, trapping heat, for millennia, they said.Even if we stop emitting, Earth will remain approximately 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures, the team added. The findings are published in the journal PLOS Climate.”We know that fossil fuel emissions have caused a lot of warming, and we’re seeing the impacts of that, but the question is: How long does that warming last into the future?” said Frierson, an associate professor of atmospheric and climate science, said.”We expect (a) continued warming of the climate until we stop fossil fuel emissions. The only stable future is one with no fossil fuels burned at all,” Frierson said.In recent years, methodologies for linking an extreme weather event to climate change have improved, helping with ‘attribution’, the researchers said.Evidence from attribution studies have shown importance in holding an entity to account for contributing to damages by causing climate change.Advancements in attribution science clarify how burning fossil fuels has increased the likelihood of extreme weather occurring, the team said.Results from the studies form the backbone of a growing list of lawsuits attempting to hold major emitters responsible for deaths and damages incurred during climate disasters, they said.Efforts to hold emitters accountable hinge on allegations that companies knew about those risks and concealed the information from the public, sometimes employing deceptive tactics to spread disinformation, the researchers said.The study shows that gases released by leading emitters, from both extracting and burning fossil fuels, may also be responsible for events that have not happened yet, they said.Emissions from the past can increase the odds of a future disaster through persistent warming, the team said.”This is important for current decisions about fossil fuels. Future fossil fuel production will exacerbate climate disasters for many decades to come, so new legal battles about who is accountable should be expected for many years,” Frierson said.The study simulated global climate through 2500 using the Finite Amplitude Impulse Response, or FaIR, model in both low and higher emissions scenarios, with and without emissions from carbon majors through 2024.”For any future emissions scenario, the historical emissions from oil, gas, coal, and cement producers affect many aspects of the climate system, including CO2 (carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere and other parts of the carbon cycle, methane, ozone, and stratospheric water vapour,” the authors wrote.”The total radiative forcing induced by these elements stays positive throughout all simulations, which in turn causes positive temperature perturbations. Thus, in addition to the damages that have already occurred, we expect the Carbon Majors to be responsible for calculable climate damages for many centuries into the future,” they said.