Carbon Majors

The term carbon major is used to describe the largest fossil fuel companies in the world, the entities most responsible for global climate change. This category includes both investor-owned corporations such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, and Total, as well as state-owned enterprises such as Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, Coal India, and PEMEX.

The term carbon major is used widely in the subfield of Attribution Science that works to trace greenhouse gas emissions to specific entities. In 2013, Richard Heede published a groundbreaking peer-reviewed article in the journal Climatic Change that traced the CO2 contributions of the largest emitting companies from the beginning of the industrial revolution in 1754 to the present day. The Climate Accountability Institute has worked to periodically update this report based on the latest data.

Contribution of Carbon Majors to Climate Change
The original 2013 paper found that nearly two-thirds of CO 2 emitted since the 1750's could be traced to the 90 largest fossil fuel and cement producers. A 2020 update of the report found that half of all global fossil fuel a cement CO 2 emissions since 1751 have occurred since 1991. That is a startling figure considering that the IPCC was founded in 1988. Research has revealed that fossil fuel industry leaders knew about the climate impact of fossil fuels by the 1960's, meaning that the majority of CO 2 emissions by carbon majors have occurred when they knew the damage their products was causing.

Cases Against Carbon Majors
By knowingly contributing to climate change, the carbon majors have exposed themselves to liability. Numerous cases have been brought with the goal of holding carbon majors accountable for their impacts and obtaining relief in the form of mitigative or adaptive measures from the entities most responsible for causing climate change. This has been particularly true in the United States where numerous state and local governments are suing the carbon majors for the costs of adapting public infrastructure to the impacts of climate change.

Other cases have accused the carbon majors of committing human rights violations.

A recent trend in climate litigation has been to file complains against carbon majors for the practice of greenwashing, or misleading the public about the environmental impact of their products and business practices. These cases have been successful at getting the fossil fuel industry to back off some of its advertising practices. In the long run, restricting or eliminating fossil fuel advertising can help revoke the carbon majors social license to operate.

Finally, there is documented evidence that the fossil fuel industry knew about the impacts of fossil fuels on the climate at least since the 1960's. This means that for decades they continued to produce and promote products that they knew caused dangerous impacts when used properly by consumers. This has been used as evidence both in cases seeking damage. Cases have also been brought alleging that fossil fuel companies committed fraud by misleading shareholders and the public about the impacts of their business. The United States has seen several fraud cases brought against ExxonMobil.

Resources

 * Cliamte Accountability Institute
 * Original Carbon Majors Report - Richard Heede
 * ClientEarth guide to greenwashing
 * https://www.openglobalrights.org/fossil-fuel-producers-and-climate-responsibilities-and-opportunities/
 * https://www.openglobalrights.org/climate-litigation-against-carbon-majors-economic-impacts/