A sobering new report reveals that the vast majority of the world's carbon emissions are being generated by less than 60 companies.
The study reveals that a mere 57 companies involved in oil, gas, coal, and cement production are directly responsible for 80% of the world's total fossil CO2 emissions since the adoption of the 2016 Paris climate agreement.
The breakdown of the major contributors were Chevron (3%) and ExxonMobil (2.8%) from the US, Gazprom and the National Iranian Oil Company from Russia. Two European firms, BP and Shell, each contributed over 2%, along with Coal India.
According to the Carbon Majors Database, compiled by world-renowned researchers, a group of influential state-owned and multinational corporations are the main drivers of the climate crisis. ExxonMobil from the United States was the largest investor-owned contributor to emissions, accounting for 3.6 gigatonnes of CO2 over seven years, which is 1.4% of the global total. Following closely were Shell, BP, Chevron, and TotalEnergies, each accounting for at least 1% of global emissions.
A spokesperson for Shell told The Guardian,"Shell is committed to becoming a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, a target we believe supports the more ambitious goal of the Paris agreement to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. We continue to make good progress on our climate targets, and by the end of 2023, we had achieved more than 60% of our target to halve Scope 1 and 2 emissions from our operations by 2030, compared with 2016."
Even though governments committed to cutting greenhouse gases in Paris, the study finds that most major producers ramped up their production of fossil fuels and related emissions in the seven years after the climate agreement, compared to the seven years prior.
Chinese state coal production is responsible for a significant 14% of historical global CO2 emissions, making it the largest contributor in the database by a wide margin.
This is more than double the proportion of the former Soviet Union, which is in second place, and more than three times higher than that of Saudi Aramco, which is in third.
In the database of 122 of the world's biggest historical climate polluters, researchers found that 65% of state entities and 55% of private-sector companies had scaled up production, reported The Guardian.
"It is morally reprehensible for companies to continue expanding exploration and production of carbon fuels in the face of knowledge now for decades that their products are harmful," said Richard Heede, who created the Carbon Majors dataset in 2013.
"Don't blame consumers who have been forced to be reliant on oil and gas due to government capture by oil and gas companies."
The Carbon Majors research has changed how we view accountability for the climate crisis by assigning emissions to the companies that profit from extracting fossil fuels rather than blaming individuals who use them.
