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Hurricanes Milton and Helene: Big Oil’s Role in Supercharging Storms

Fossil Fuels Natural Disaster

In the last two weeks, two devastating hurricanes have hammered the southeast of the United States. The impacts of Hurricanes Milton and Helene are not just natural disasters—they are supercharged by decades of fossil fuel extraction. Oil, gas, and coal companies have known since as early as the 1970s that their products would drive catastrophic climate change. Instead of encouraging a shift to systems built on clean energy, they have spent millions on lobbying and disinformation campaigns to protect their profits, blocking meaningful action to curb global warming. The result? More intense and destructive storms like Helene and Milton.

Climate change, driven by fossil fuel emissions, has increased the frequency and severity of the most dangerous hurricanes—categories 3 to 5. In Florida, climate change has already more than doubled the likelihood of storms as strong as Hurricane Helene. In a world without climate change, Hurricane Milton would have made landfall as a weaker Category 2 storm, rather than the Category 3 powerhouse that intensified faster than any Atlantic storm in history.

The role of fossil fuel companies doesn’t stop there. As these companies continue extracting oil and gas, profiting from the very activities that worsen climate change, the cost of destruction is borne by the public. Hurricane Milton’s storm surge in Tampa Bay and the surrounding area is a direct result of rising sea levels driven by climate change. Similarly, hotter air is causing heavier rainfall, like the 50% increase in rainfall seen during Hurricane Helene in parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.

Meanwhile, governments continue to subsidize oil and gas companies with billions in taxpayer money, while committing far too little to climate finance—funds intended to help nations mitigate and adapt to climate impacts. The consequences of this inaction are clear. Fossil fuel profits grow as the world pays the price in lost lives, rising seas, stronger storms, and mounting destruction. Helene and Milton are just the beginning.

It’s past time for governments to end fossil fuel subsidies, invest heavily in renewable energy, and ramp up climate finance to protect communities everywhere from the worsening climate crisis.

It’s estimated, due to climate damages caused by oil majors’ emissions, annual loss and damage by 2030 will cost

$300billion2
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