Activists protest against fossil fuels at the UN Cop28 climate summit in Dubai on December 5th, 2023. Photograph: KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images
It shows 57 large multinationals are responsible for 80 per cent of emissions since 2016, including all the usual rogues in the oil and gas sector. In the database of 122 of the world’s biggest historical climate polluters, the researchers found 65 per cent of state entities and 55 per cent of private-sector companies had scaled up production. This goes beyond oil and gas companies, and includes coal, cement and mining interests.of the United States, linked to 3.6 gigatonnes of CO2 over seven years – or 1.4 per cent of the global total.
People walk down a flooded street as they evacuate their homes after the area was inundated with flooding from Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images The International Energy Agency concluded in 2021 no new oil, gas or coal fields can be opened if the world is to stay within safe limits of heating. Multiple studies published since found global temperatures are rapidly approaching the lower Paris target of 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial era, with potentially dire consequences for humanity and the natural world.
In response to the data, Shell said it was 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 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels”.