Assessing early oil industry awareness of the impacts of fossil fuels on coral reefs using a novel AI agent

The world’s tropical coral reefs are under imminent threat of collapse from global warming. Living corals have declined by approximately 50% worldwide since the 1990s, with global warming now the greatest threat to future survival 1 . Global warming kills corals primarily through increased ocean temperatures and more frequent and intense marine heatwaves, which cause coral bleaching (loss of coral symbionts), exacerbated by ocean acidification (from increased carbon dioxide levels), which weakens coral health, and intensified storms (from increased sea surface temperatures), which physically destroy coral assemblages, all ultimately caused by fossil fuels 1 . Approximately one billion people worldwide depend directly on coral reefs for livelihoods, food security, and protection from storms and coastal erosion, and coral reefs provide shelter and nourishment to over 30% of the world’s named marine species 2 . Economically, coral reefs provide an estimated 10 trillion USD per year in ecosystem services, including tens of billions of dollars per year in coral reef tourism 3 , and potential efforts to restore reefs lost over the last decade alone have been estimated to cost around 1 trillion USD 2 . Mass coral bleaching and mortality from marine heatwaves driven by global warming is ongoing 4 . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts mortality of 70—90% of the world’s reef-building corals at global warming of 1.5 °C and mortality of more than 99% at 2 °C 1 .