Big Oil’s duty of disgorging funds in the context of climate change

Climate justice must investigate new forms of responsibility, with particular attention to neglected agents of justice. For instance, two-thirds of the global industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the past two centuries can be traced to the activities of 100 companies, prevalently belonging to the oil and gas industries. “Big Oil” has played a critical role in climate change by supplying fossil fuels to the global economic system, and therefore supported unsustainable growth and development of the planet. Based on this evidence, this chapter articulates the responsibilities Big Oil has in relation to climate change and assigns a duty of financial rectification of the harm done based on these responsibilities. The chapter first identifies the moral bases that justify responsibilities of Big Oil in the context of climate change. Second, it structures and articulates such responsibilities in the form of a duty of disgorgement. This implies rectification through disgorgement of funds for the wrongful actions of oil and gas companies, which resulted in negative climate impacts, starting from the most socially vulnerable subjects affected by climate change. The chapter eventually outlines relevant practical issues for specifying the duty of disgorgement, as well as key challenges to its operationalisation.