Just 100 companies have been the source of 71% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988. Chinese Coal, Saudi Arabian Aramco and Russia’s Gazprom were the top three, with ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron identified as among the highest emitting investor-owned companies.
More than half of global industrial emissions since 1988 – the year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established – can be traced to just 25 corporate and state-owned entities.
A fifth of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions are backed by public investment. The Carbon Majors Report shows how a small group of fossil fuel producers are responsible for almost all greenhouse gas emissions. The scale of emissions associated with these producers is large enough to have contributed significantly to climate change.
Photo: "Gas Oil Bull statue" by Su--May is licensed underCC BY 2.0
[…] While this terrifying reality is usually framed as one of personal moral failing of the individual, drive less, recycle more, turn down the thermostat. In reality the responsibility for this falls on the backs of major producers and profiteers of greenhouse gases, the majority of which comes from just 100 companies. […]