A mere 57 mega polluters produce bulk of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, new analysis shows
www.abc.net.au
Just 57 mega polluters are responsible for the bulk of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and most big fossil fuel players have increased, rather than decreased, their output since the Paris Agreement in 2015, a staggering new report finds.

On the one hand, it makes it really hard to stay motivated with the teeny contribution I make to reducing emissions.
On the other, think of how much of a difference these 57 companies could make if they actually reached net-zero targets.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    2·
    8 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The report is released by UK non-for-profit think tank InfluenceMap, which focuses on climate risks and is known for its work tracking the lobbying of fossil fuel emitters.

    The report traces emissions as far back as the Industrial Revolution, when humans began burning fossil fuels and emitting increasing amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

    Overall, China’s national coal production has been the biggest single source of pollution, accounting for 14 per cent of global historical emissions, with the former Soviet Union coming in second.

    The database was cited in a recent case in which a Belgian farmer was arguing that an oil and gas company was partly responsible for damage to his farm from extreme weather.

    "We’re also seeing [the data] in academic research, quantifying the contribution that the emissions by these producers have made to, for example, sea level rise to forest fire risk, and so on.

    “It’s certainly an interesting issue to analyse further, what’s causing that, whether it’s investor pressure that has managed to somewhat drive down the production of coal among investor-owned companies,” Mr Van Acker told the ABC.

    The original article contains 655 words, the summary contains 182 words. Saved 72%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!