Press Releases
June 6, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Extreme heat fueled by climate change is once again forcing U.S. schools to close and parents and teachers to demand action over unsafe conditions.
Many districts that did not need air conditioning decades ago are now experiencing a dramatic increase in school days over 80 degrees — often needing to send students home early on dangerous “heat days.” Just this week, public schools in Parma, Ohio, were forced to close “due to extreme temperatures.”
A 2021 study from the Center for Climate Integrity found that as climate change heats up classrooms more each year, U.S. school districts faced $40 billion in added costs by 2025 to install, upgrade, operate, and maintain HVAC systems.
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement:
“It’s not fair that students, teachers, and parents are paying the price for more extreme heat days, while the Big Oil companies that turned up the heat in these classrooms and lied about it for decades continue to rake in profits and pay nothing. Hotter school days mean more school closures, lower academic performance, and more strain placed on hardworking families. The fossil fuel industry must be held accountable for the harm and costs their climate deception has caused to America’s education system.”
Background on U.S. Climate Accountability Lawsuits Against Big Oil:
Ten U.S. states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai`i, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont — and the District of Columbia, along with dozens of city, county, and tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, and Puerto Rico, have filed lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change. These cases collectively represent more than 1 in 4 people living in the United States. Last year, the attorney general of Michigan announced plans to take fossil fuel companies to court.