More and more companies, including airlines and oil companies, are announcing an intention to achieve carbon-neutral operations over the next couple decades. But, it is important to look behind the headlines and understand what that sort of pledge actually means. What business is the company actually in and does the pledge include their supply chain or product output? From the Climate Accountability Institute (Oct. 9, 2019, data through 2017), global fossil fuel and cement emissions from 1965 to 2018 totaled 1,354 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide and energy-related methane (GtCO2e); The twenty largest investor-owned and state-owned fossil fuel companies produced carbon fuels that emitted 35% of the global total (480 GtCO2e); Looking over the entire historical data set they find their current database of 103 fossil fuel and cement entities emitted 1,221 GtCO2e, or 69.8% of global since 1751 (1.75 TtCO2e); of which the Top Twenty companies are responsible for 526 GtCO2e, or 30% of all fossil fuel and cement emission since 1751. [Charts and data, Climate Accountability Institute, October 2019]
