Leading Firms Knowingly Pollute the World!

 In October 2019, The Guardian revealed the 20 fossil fuel companies whose relentless exploitation of the world’s oil, gas and coal reserves directly linked to more than one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the modern era.

New data from world-renowned researchers reveals how this cohort of state-owned and multinational firms are driving the climate emergency that threatens the future of humanity.

The analysis by Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute in the US, the world’s leading authority on big oil’s role in the escalating climate emergency, evaluates what the global corporations have extracted from the ground, and the subsequent emissions these fossil fuels are responsible for since 1965 – the point at which experts say the environmental impact of fossil fuels was known by both industry leaders and politicians.

The top 20 companies on the list have contributed to 35% of all energy-related carbon dioxide and methane worldwide, totalling 480bn tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) since 1965.

Those identified range from investor-owned firms – such as Chevron, Exxon, BP and Shell – to state-owned companies including Saudi Aramco and Gazprom.

Chevron topped the list of the eight investor-owned corporations, followed closely by Exxon, BP and Shell. Together these four global businesses are behind more than 10% of the world’s carbon emissions since 1965.

Sources: https://www.wikiwand.com and https://en.wikipedia.org

Twelve of the top 20 companies are state-owned and together their extractions are responsible for 20% of total emissions in the same period. The leading state-owned polluter is SaudiAramco, which has produced 4.38% of the global total on its own.

The great tragedy of the climate crisis is that seven and a half billion people must pay the price – in the form of a degraded planet – so that a couple of dozen polluting interests can continue to make record profits. It is a great moral failing of our political system that we have allowed this to happen – said Michael Mann, a climate scientist.

The study shows that many of the worst offenders are investor-owned companies that are household names around the world and spend billions of pounds on lobbying governments and portraying themselves as environmentally responsible.

A study earlier in 2019 found that the largest five stock-market-listed oil and gas companies spend nearly $200m each year lobbying to delay, control or block policies to tackle climate change.

They lack moral, legal and financial responsibility for the climate crisis and reluctantly accept responsibility for the problem. It is time for the global movement to act rather than talk of measures. A “climate” tax has to be imposed on them for polluting the earth.

Reference:

Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions, Matthew Taylor and Jonathan Watts, The Guardian, 9 Oct 2019