Rubble remains of once-standing homes on Wapello Street in the tight-knit community of Altadena in Los Angeles on Feb. 3, 2025. 

Climate change is sticking California with a multibillion-dollar bill, and right now everyday families are the ones being asked to pick up the tab through higher taxes, electricity costs and insurance premiums. 

Meanwhile, the oil companies whose products are driving the climate crisis, continue to profit while making it worse. 

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Last week, our state had a golden opportunity to build a fairer system when the California Earthquake Authority released its long awaited report on how to deal with the mounting cost of wildfires in the state — including $76 billion for property and capital costs caused by last year’s fires in Los Angeles. But the agency’s recommendations mostly adjust the share of the damages and costs passed around between utilities, insurers, homeowners and taxpayers, while ignoring the underlying reason wildfire risks continue to grow. 

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Completely absent from the 107-page report is any mention of large oil and gas corporations, which are substantially responsible for the warming climate that is driving California’s wildfires but currently not paying a cent of the financial costs.

These companies knew as far back as the 1970s that their products would fuel worsening extreme weather events. Rather than change course, they spent the ensuing decades engaging in a decades-long campaign to lie to the public about the problem and thwart efforts to transition to cleaner energy sources.

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Like the rest of the world, California is now living with the consequences of their deception. Climate change — driven by fossil fuels — has turned our state into a tinderbox.

Southern California Edison’s equipment may have ignited the Eaton Fire in Altadena, but acres of dry kindling due to abnormally hot and dry weather provided the abundant fuel that helped turn it and the Palisades Fire into the most expensive wildfire disaster in global history. Climate scientists looked at the climatic conditions behind the fires and concluded that fossil fuel-driven climate change made the disaster 35% more likely.

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While Big Oil continues to escape accountability for its role in these disasters, its share of the costs are being passed onto the public, with climbing utility and insurance rates as a result of rising costs associated with wildfire mitigation and losses.

Insurers, who are paying out $40 billion in claims from the L.A. wildfires, are scaling back coverage in many communities and leaving homeowners to the state’s insurer of last resort program (FAIR Plan), which offers substandard coverage at higher rates. A shocking 1 in 5 California homeowners are now going without insurance — risking financial ruin after the next major wildfire. Those that do have insurance are finding themselves in years-long battles with insurers to get their claims paid, which is physically, emotionally and financially exhausting for survivors.

The status quo is badly broken, and it will continue to be that way until we get serious about holding all of the responsible parties accountable for the climate crisis. Sadly the California Earthquake Authority’s report ignores opportunities to do just that.

Guest opinions in Open Forum and Insight are produced by writers with expertise, personal experience or original insights on a subject of interest to our readers. Their views do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Chronicle editorial board, which is committed to providing a diversity of ideas to our readership.

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For example, Senate Bill 982, introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener, gives the state attorney general the authority to bring lawsuits against Big Oil to recover insurance-related losses associated with their emissions, including premium increases and disaster-related FAIR Plans losses that are being shifted to all California policyholders. Revenue recovered through successful legal action could also be used to fund the “California Safe Homes” program for homeowners to upgrade roofs and landscaping, making property more resilient to wildfire. Right now many everyday Californians are paying these costs out of pocket just to maintain potential access to insurance.

The CEA report makes one thing clear: Though we can shift costs between insurers, utilities and governments, it’s the public who pays. Large oil and gas corporations are substantially responsible for this mess and making historic profits selling the products that fuel it, while leaving the rest of us to deal with its costs. Until we fix that, we’re mostly rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic while the ship continues to go down — harming our state’s economy and making life in California more expensive in the process.

Dave Jones is a former California Insurance Commissioner and Director, Climate Risk Initiative, Center for Law, Energy & the Environment

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