Ninety companies – mostly belonging to rich countries – are responsible for emitting two thirds of world’s deadly gases since 1751, says a research conducted by Richard Heede at the Colorado-based Climate Accountability Institute.
The 90 companies accounted for 63 percent of total industrial emissions (carbon dioxide and methane) during 1751-2010.
Indian public sector firms Coal India Limited, ONGC and Singareni Collieries Company Limited are among the list of these companies.
The research reveals that majority of the companies which have contributed to global warming during 1751-2010 was based in rich countries like the U.S, the U.K, Germany, France, Japan and Canada among others.
In addition to the three firms from India, the list also includes major coal and cement producers of China. However, the fact that most of the firms in the list belong to developed nations will strengthen the argument by developing countries that developed countries have more responsibility in reducing emission.
The report, which was published in scientific journal ‘Climatic Change,’ comes at a time when there is a differentiation between the developed and the developing world over climate issues.
Developed countries have been arguing to end this differentiation stating that developing countries including the growing economies like India and China are responsible for high emissions in the past couple of decades.
Under Kyoto Protocol, only developed countries have the obligation to cut emission, and developing countries and poor nations are relieved from stringent carbon emission targets. Developing countries have been arguing that the “historical responsibility” must be factored in during any future agreement.
The list of 90 includes 50 private companies, 31 state-owned companies and nine ran by nation-states (communist block like former USSR, China, North Korea, Poland, Czech Republic among others)
The report has categorized the remaining 37 percent of the total emissions under the “unattributed” category. However, it has revealed a list of all state-owned and private entities which were responsible for emitting 914 gigatonnes of CO2 and methane during the period since beginning of industrial age.
Of these entities, 56 are oil and natural gas companies, 37 are coal producers (including coal subsidiaries of Oil and Gas Company) and seven are cement producers.
Significantly, 40 percent of these private entities operate in the U.S—the country that has been at the helm trying to dilute the differentiation between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries during the recently held climate talks in Warsaw, Poland.