Pollution from 57 polluters: 80% Post-Paris CO2

Just 57 companies are responsible for 80% of climate pollution emitted after the Paris Agreement, a new report shows. Using data from 122 of the world’s largest oil, gas, coal, and cement producers, reveals the Carbon Majors Database, shows 65% of state entities and 55% of private-sector firms have increased fossil fuel extraction since that 2015 agreement. States and state-backed entities are the biggest polluters, and ExxonMobil the largest investor-owned firm, responsible for 1.4% of global CO2 pollution from 2016-2022.

In May 2021, the International Energy Agency warned all new oil and gas extraction, and coal plant construction, must cease in order to limit global warming to the goals set in the Paris Agreement and in April 2022, the IPCC said the barrier to climate action were entrenched political and economic actors interested in upholding the status quo. The disproportionate share of climate pollution from this relatively small group of firms mirrors the disproportionate amount of methane pollution from a relatively few polluters in the Permian Basin. (The Guardian, Reuters, Axios, The Hill)