A recent report from the think tank InfluenceMap highlights that a significant proportion of global carbon emissions since 2016 can be attributed to a small number of companies and countries.
The report, published on Thursday, reveals that 80% of these emissions are linked to fewer than 60 entities, including nation-states, state-owned companies, and investor-owned companies.
The report indicates that the majority of these emissions, 57 entities in total, are responsible for the vast majority of overall emissions.
Among them, three state-owned companies are the largest producers of human-caused emissions. Saudi Aramco leads the list, accounting for 4.8% of global emissions between 2016 and 2022, and 3.6% since 1854, marking the start of the industrial era.
Following closely behind is the Russian-owned Gazprom, contributing 3.3% of emissions between 2016 and 2022, with Coal India at 3%. Two other state-owned companies, the National Iranian Oil Co. and Russian-owned Rosneft, round out the top five with 2.8% and 2.1%, respectively.
The only investor-owned entities in the top 10 are ExxonMobil, responsible for 1.4% of emissions, and Shell, responsible for 1.2%.
Surprisingly, the report also reveals that the top five investor-owned companies, including Chevron, BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell, and ConocoPhillips, have contributed a greater share of historical emissions compared to the top five state-owned companies. Specifically, 11.1% of historical emissions are attributable to investor-owned firms, slightly higher than the 10.9% from state-owned firms.
Since the drafting of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, most entities have expanded fossil fuel production, as noted by InfluenceMap.
A significant percentage of state-owned firms (65%) and investor-owned firms (55%) increased production from 2016 to 2022, compared to the previous seven years.
The report also highlights that Asian countries and companies have been major drivers of the post-Paris increase in emissions.
The report found an increase in all five investor-owned Asian companies analyzed and eight out of 10 state-owned Asian companies, with coal production being a major factor.
Signatories of the Paris Agreement have pledged to reduce emissions to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius and achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century. Notably, Iran is the only major emitter that has not joined the agreement.