Majority of Americans think fossil fuel companies are responsible for the damages caused by global warming

A survey of 5,131 U.S. adults found that a majority of Americans believe fossil fuel companies are responsible for global warming damages and should bear the costs of these damages rather than taxpayers. Specifically, 57% of respondents attribute a moderate to great deal of responsibility to these companies, and 50% support local officials filing liability lawsuits against them. The data indicates widespread distrust of fossil fuel companies, with 66% of participants expressing distrust.

• A majority of Americans (57%) believe fossil fuel companies bear a moderate or great deal of responsibility for damages caused by global warming, and an equal percentage (57%) support requiring these companies to pay for a portion of local damages resulting from carbon pollution.
• When choosing between fossil fuel companies and taxpayers to cover the costs of global warming damages, 53% of Americans believe the companies should pay for most or all of the costs, while only 6% believe taxpayers should bear the primary burden.
• Half of the surveyed U.S. adults (50%) support the action of local officials filing liability lawsuits against fossil fuel companies whose products contribute to climate change, with 30% opposing the idea.
• There is a significant lack of trust in fossil fuel companies among the public, with 66% of Americans reporting that they somewhat or strongly distrust them, compared to 31% who trust them.
• Geographic analysis shows that in all but eight U.S. states, a majority of residents believe fossil fuel corporations are responsible for global warming damages and should contribute to the costs of damages in affected communities.

APA

Marlon, J., Wang, X., Gustafson, A., Ballew, M., Goldberg, M., Rosenthal, S., & Leiserowitz, A. (2019). Majority of Americans think fossil fuel companies are responsible for the damages caused by global warming. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/majority-of-americans-think-fossil-fuel-companies-are-responsible-for-the-damages-caused-by-global-warming/

Chicago

Marlon, Jennifer, Xinran Wang, Abel Gustafson, Matthew Ballew, Matthew Goldberg, Seth Rosenthal, and Anthony Leiserowitz. Majority of Americans think fossil fuel companies are responsible for the damages caused by global warming. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 2019. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/majority-of-americans-think-fossil-fuel-companies-are-responsible-for-the-damages-caused-by-global-warming/.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{marlon2019majority, author = {Marlon, Jennifer and Wang, Xinran and Gustafson, Abel and Ballew, Matthew and Goldberg, Matthew and Rosenthal, Seth and Leiserowitz, Anthony}, title = {{Majority of Americans think fossil fuel companies are responsible for the damages caused by global warming}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2019}, month = jun, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/majority-of-americans-think-fossil-fuel-companies-are-responsible-for-the-damages-caused-by-global-warming/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }