Carbon Majors: 2023 Data Update

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Carbon Majors

Carbon Majors was first released in 2013² by Richard Heede of the Climate Accountability Institute (CAI) to trace emissions from fossil fuel and cement production back to the companies responsible. In 2024, InfluenceMap, in collaboration with CAI, updated and launched the database on a new website, carbonmajors.org. This platform ensures regular updates and increased accessibility for users.

Carbon Majors was developed to focus on the accountability of hydrocarbon producers, specifically corporations that consistently generate substantial profits from the extraction and manufacturing of products known to be the major contributors to climate change. Unlike national-level emissions databases, it is the first and only global database that aggregates emissions data by company, providing a crucial link between corporate actions and climate change-related harms. This approach has been essential for identifying and establishing the responsibility of a small group of companies whose emissions have significantly contributed to global warming.

Since 2013, Carbon Majors has been widely utilized in climate litigation and legislation, serving as a critical tool for emissions attribution. Additionally, it has found applications in academic research, as well as in regulatory and financial contexts. For instance, since the release of the Carbon Majors Database: Launch Report in April 2024, notable use cases include:

• New York and Vermont have passed Climate Superfund laws requiring fossil fuel companies responsible for significant emissions to pay into state funds for climate damage repair and adaptation. The database is a proposed tool to quantify these companies’ emissions.
• Quilcaille et al. found climate change significantly increased heatwave intensity and likelihood, with 33% of historical heatwaves being virtually impossible without anthropogenic influence. The study also quantifies the role of the Carbon Majors entities in intensifying these heatwaves, showing that emissions from these producers made up to 62 heatwaves reported between 2000 and 2022 up to 10,000 times more likely.
• A 2024 memo by Public Citizen and Fair and Just Prosecution outlines how fossil fuel companies and their CEOs could face criminal charges under New York’s reckless endangerment laws for knowingly contributing to climate disasters while misleading the public about the risks. The database serves as a key resource to support evidence of reckless conduct by major fossil fuel producers.
• ClientEarth filed a complaint against BlackRock with the French financial regulator, for misleading investors about ‘sustainable’ funds while investing in fossil fuel companies, including ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP. The database is cited to highlight these companies’ significant contribution to global emissions.

Background

In its 2023 AR6 Synthesis Report, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that global surface temperatures have already reached 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels (1850–1900) from 2011–2020, underscoring the urgency of immediate and deep emissions reductions. Meanwhile, the UN Emissions Gap Report 2024 reveals that despite existing climate agreements, global greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high of 57.1 GtCO₂e in 2023, a 1.3% increase from the 2022. This growth exceeds the average annual increase observed between 2010–2019 of 0.8%. Unless emissions in 2030 fall below levels inferred by current policies and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the chance of achieving the 1.5°C target will vanish, and the difficulty of limiting warming to 2°C (>66% chance) will increase dramatically. The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Net Zero by 2050 report emphasizes the need for a dramatic and immediate decline in coal, oil, and gas consumption, yet the fossil fuel industry continues to expand. In 2023, global CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels reached a record high of 37.8 GtCO₂, up 1.3% from 2022¹.

Carbon Majors traces greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and cement produced by companies from as early as 1854 to the present. This section provides a brief overview of the database’s methodology. For a detailed more explanation, see the Methodology Page or refer to Rick Heede’s 2014 paper, Carbon Majors: Methods & Results Report³.

Carbon Majors selects the largest oil, gas, coal, and cement producers based on their production. These entities are categorized as either investor-owned, state-owned, or nation-state producers. Nation-state producers are used primarily in the coal sector and are included only when investor-owned or state-owned companies haven’t been established or played a minor role in the relevant country.

Production data is obtained for each entity and is primarily based on self-reported figures, with third-party sources used when necessary. This data is standardized to common commodity types, each with a standard unit: Oil & Natural Gas Liquids (million barrels), Natural Gas (billion cubic feet), and Coal (million tonnes). To improve data accuracy, coal production is further categorized by rank, such as bituminous or anthracite, or by utilization, such as thermal or metallurgical.

Emission factors for each fuel type are used to estimate the carbon content released when these fossil fuels are combusted. Applying this factor to the standardized production results in the emissions from the combustion of marketed products, comprising nearly 90% of total emissions tracked by the database. These are Scope 3 Category 11 emissions, corresponding to "use of sold products". Four direct, operational Scope 1 emissions are then estimated: the flaring and venting of CO₂ at oil and gas facilities, fugitive methane from coal, oil, and gas operations, and CO₂ from a producer’s own fuel use (mainly gas production). Both Scope 1 and Scope 3 emissions are then aggregated to determine the total emissions for a company in a given year and historically. Estimation of CO₂ emissions for cement production differs from that for fossil fuel production. Cement emissions are calculated based on process emissions from limestone calcining and exclude fuel and electricity inputs already accounted for by fossil fuel producers.

This research compares the emissions tracked by the Carbon Majors database to total fossil fuel and cement emissions since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Data from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), and more recently the Global Carbon Project, provides this total, amounting to 1,812 GtCO₂ from 1750 to 2023. The CO₂ emissions figures obtained from the above calculations (excluding fugitive methane CO₂ equivalent emissions) are compared to this total to calculate entities' relative contributions to total fossil fuel and cement emissions.

This analysis of emissions linked to the world's largest carbon-producing entities provides important insights into the responsibility for industrial CO₂ emissions. The historical overview, spanning from 1750 to 2023, reveals that 69% of global fossil fuel and cement emissions can be traced to 180 entities, with over one-third of these emissions attributed to just 24 producers.

In 2023, the database traced 33.7 GtCO₂e of emissions to the 169 active entities, marking a 0.7% increase from 2022. Notably, just 36 companies were linked to over half of global fossil fuel and cement CO₂ emissions that year. The top 20 highest carbon-producing entities in 2023 are dominated by state-owned enterprises, with 16 of the 20 being state-owned. This list also underscores the significant role of Chinese entities, with the eight entities on the list responsible for 17.4% of global emissions in 2023. Coal companies also feature prominently, with seven on the list, six from China and one from India, highlighting Asia's continued reliance on coal.

A significant update in this year’s analysis is the disaggregation of coal emissions previously aggregated at the national level for China, the Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Attributing these emissions to individual companies, many of which are state-owned, further emphasizes the dominant role of state-owned enterprises. In fact, state-owned entities have emerged as the largest emitters by type in 2023, with 67 state-owned entities linked to 22.3 GtCO₂e, more than double the 10.2 GtCO₂e attributed to 99 investor-owned entities.

Coal remained the largest contributor to emissions in 2023, with its share of total emissions increasing, while cement emissions saw the largest relative rise. In contrast, natural gas emissions declined slightly, and oil emissions remained stable. Regionally, Africa and Europe made some progress in emissions reductions, with most companies in these regions decreasing emissions and overall emissions dropping across all fuels. All other regions saw total emissions increase from 2022, with the majority of companies in those regions, except the Middle East, linked to higher emissions.

In summary, Carbon Majors provides a comprehensive view of the historical and ongoing role of major producers in global emissions. It provides strong evidence for attributing responsibility for climate impacts to a small group of entities, who are often actively engaged with climate policy while simultaneously holding unsupportive or oppositional positions on those policies. By doing so, Carbon Majors underscores the urgent need for targeted accountability and systemic changes in industrial production and policy to align with global climate goals.

The emissions column in the table below includes four direct production-linked operational emission types (comprising part of Scope 1 emissions) and emissions from the combustion of marketed products (categorized as Scope 3 Category 11: Use of Sold Products). One of the four direct emission types is fugitive methane (see the Methodology Page for more information), given in CO₂ equivalent units. In the final column, Percentage of global CO₂ emissions, the value for fugitive methane is not considered when comparing an entity's total CO₂ emissions to total fossil fuel and cement CO₂ emissions.

The emissions column in the table below includes four direct production-linked operational emission types (comprising part of Scope 1 emissions) and emissions from the combustion of marketed products (categorized as Scope 3 Category 11: Use of Sold Products). One of the four direct emission types is fugitive methane (see the Methodology Page for more information), given in CO₂ equivalent units. In the final column, Percentage of global CO₂ emissions, the value for fugitive methane is not considered when comparing an entity's total CO₂ emissions to total fossil fuel and cement CO₂ emissions.