The Carbon Majors - Big Oil, Coal and Gas Producers
100 Carbon Majors responsible for Climate Change
In 2013, the Climate Justice Programme released the Carbon Majors Report with the Climate Accountability Institute, which detailed the tracing of anthropogenic carbon emissions to Big Oil, Coal and Gas. The Carbon Majors Report found that just 90 Oil, Coal and Gas producers were responsible for 63% of industrial carbon emissions. The "Carbon Majors" include investor-owned companies such as Shell, BP, Exxon, Chevron and BHP.
The 2013 Carbon Majors Report was jointly commissioned by the Climate Justice Programme and Greenpeace. The findings were also published in a journal article written by Mr Richard Heede in Climatic Change. The release of the Carbon Majors Report and the journal article were covered by the Guardian and other media outlets.
For the first time, the world found out who is historically responsible for climate change. The research had taken over a decade of work to finish and represents the most comprehensive dataset of historic industrial carbon emissions traced to companies.
The research found that ChevronTexaco was the leading producer among investor-owned companies, with 3.5% of industrial carbon emissions. Exxon was not far behind at 3.2%. BP had 2.5% of industrial carbon emissions traced back to it.
In 2017, CDP and the Climate Accountability Institute updated the Carbon Majors research. The 2017 Carbon Majors Report found that 100 Oil, Coal and Gas producers were responsible for 71% of industrial carbon emissions. Release of the 2017 Carbon Majors Report was covered in The Guardian and other media outlets.
Since the release of the 2013 Carbon Majors Report, climate litigation has been brought around the world targeting the Carbon Majors for their contribution to the climate crisis. Read more about climate litigation.
