Brian Burt

Yet Pujianto’s case is at the crest of a wave of litigation underpinned by innovative climate attribution models. Climate scientists say the most advanced type of model, called end-to-end attribution, can demonstrate a robust chain of cause and effect from an individual company’s carbon emissions all the way to local communities – no matter where they are.

Whether the studies will stand up in court is now being tested. “The science is evolving very rapidly and that’s allowing for new kinds of legal arguments,” says climate litigation expert Noah Walker-Crawford at the London School of Economics. What’s more, with the recent COP30 climate conference failing to deliver much meaningful action, some activists hope these advanced climate models could offer a powerful new weapon against global warming.