The 180 worst greenhouse gas emitters have accounted for more than half of the total climate-driven emissions between 1850 and 2023, according to a fresh international study published in Nature. Instead of looking at individual countries, the researchers have looked at who makes money from the emissions. It's about large international companies like Exxon and Chevron, but also the coal mining of China and the former Soviet Union, as well as the state-owned oil companies in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The 14 largest in the group are alone responsible for 0.33 degrees of warming of the approximately 1.3 degrees that the planet has so far warmed up.
Enable "impossible" heatwaves
What does this mean? The researchers mean that it is possible to link the actors to extreme weather. They first looked at 213 serious heatwaves recorded since 2000, and analyzed what role climate change has played for them. The one that hit Sweden in 2022, for example, became 52 times more likely to occur due to greenhouse gas emissions.
Every fourth one would not have been able to occur at all without climate change.
All 180 companies have individually contributed to increasing the risk of heatwaves.
You can say that if you remove all other emitters, and only keep, for example, Exxon or BP, then some heatwaves that were previously impossible become possible, says Yann Quilcaille, climate researcher at ETH Zürich and lead author of the study.
Became warmer
On the other hand, it can be said that all the major emitters have contributed to the intensity of heatwaves increasing. The 14 largest emitters together accounted for the heatwaves between 2010 and 2019 becoming 0.47 degrees warmer.
The question is, of course, legally sensitive - because if a company's emissions can be linked to a specific extreme weather event, those affected may possibly demand accountability. Quilcaille says that lawyers have reviewed the study before it was published.
Accountability is a very strong word here and I have to be very careful, says Quilcaille and adds that all he as a climate researcher can do is draw conclusions about connections and probability.
I can show some research-based evidence, but the legal responsibility is up to someone else to demonstrate.
Gustav Sjöholm/TT
Fact: Here are the worst greenhouse gas emitters
TT
Researchers have identified 180 major emitters, mainly producers of coal, oil and gas, as well as cement, throughout the entire value chain (i.e. even when their fossil fuels are ultimately burned).
They have accounted for 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions between 1850 and 2023.
The 14 largest, in turn, account for as much emissions as the other 166. The 14 are: (Former) Soviet Union, China (coal), Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, National Iranian Oil Company, BP, Shell, India (coal), Pemex, CHN Energy, China (cement), and CNPC.
Source: Nature
226 heatwaves were registered in the Emdat database between 2000 and 2023 in 63 different countries. To be included, the extreme weather had to have resulted in economic losses, affected people, a state of emergency was declared, or the affected region requested international support.
213 of these heatwaves were affected by climate change. The latest heatwaves have become 2.2 degrees warmer than in a world without human emissions. Every fourth heatwave would not have been able to occur without the burning of fossil fuels.
Source: Nature
