Human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause of climate change. Their impacts on global warming are catastrophic, and it is becoming more imperative that these emissions be decreased in order to prevent people from exerting so much pressure on the earth. The situation is so dire that the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts a 130 percent rise in emissions by 2050 if current trends continue.
Key Points
The largest polluting nations seem to recognise the need to cut emissions, yet despite accords such as the Kyoto Protocol, carbon dioxide emissions continue to climb. Almost all of the world’s nations are to some part responsible for the high level of global pollution, but five stand out from the others, as seen below:
-
Petrochina
Ownership: state and shareholder
Hq: beijing, china
Ceo: hou qijun
Ceo pay: undisclosed
Revenue: $328bn in 2020
Fossil fuel production: 4.1m barrels of oil equivalent a day
Investment in renewables: by 2030, the company aims to get 10% of its revenue from “new energy” sources
Global emissions 1965-2019: 15,632m tonnes of co2, 1.15% of global total
Projected increase in production 2018-30: -12%
Projected future emissions 2019-30: 8,985m tonnes of co2
Environmental disaster: in 2003, a toxic gas leak in chongqing killed 242 people. In 2005, an explosion at a plant in jilin killed six and polluted the songhua river so badly that 4 million people in harbin had their taps cut off. In 2010, a pipeline explosion in dalian discharged 1,500 tonnes of crude oil into the yellow sea. The company says it has in place strong environmental protection safeguards
Future project: the vast tarim oil and gas field in the far western region of xinjiang is being expanded to 565,000 barrels a day
1. Saudi aramco, saudi arabia
Ownership: state
Hq: dhahran, saudi arabia
Ceo: amin h nasser
Ceo pay: undisclosed
Revenue: $355.9bn in 2020
Fossil fuel production: 13.6m barrels of oil equivalent a day
Investment in renewables: $1.51bn worth of renewable energy projects tendered in 2020
Global emissions 1965-2019: 59,262m tonnes of co2, 4.38% of global total
Projected increase in production 2020-30: 7.2%
Projected emissions 2020-30: 27,035m tonnes of co2
Future projects: $18bn investment in extending marjan and berri oilfields off the eastern coast of saudi arabia to extract another 550,000 barrels per day
2. Chevron, us
Ownership: shareholder
Hq: san ramon, california, us
Ceo: michael wirth
Ceo pay: $20.6m for 2020
Revenue: $158.9bn in 2020
Fossil fuel production: 2.93m barrels of oil equivalent a day
Investment in renewables: chevron technology ventures launched its future energy fund with $100m in june 2018. The company says it has also invested $1.1bn in carbon capture and storage projects
Global emissions 1965-2019: 43,345m tonnes of co2, 3.2% of global total
Projected increase in production 2020-30: 20%
Projected future emissions 2020-30: 7,288m tonnes of co2
Environmental disaster: blamed for polluting activities in the ecuadorian amazon, although an international tribunal has said it is not liable for damages. Also blamed for oil spills in angola and brazil
Future projects: has a $20bn plan to expand drilling during 2019, including in the tengiz oilfield in kazakhstan and the permian basin in texas
Michael wirth of chevron, amin h nasser of saudi aramco, and alexey miller of gazprom. Illustration: guardian design
3. Gazprom, russia
Ownership: state
Hq: moscow, russia
Ceo: alexey miller
Ceo pay: undisclosed since 2015. £27m for 2014
Revenue: $126.5bn in 2020
Fossil fuel production: 9.7m barrels of oil equivalent a day
Investment in renewables: n/a
Global emissions 1965-2019: 43,230m tonnes of co2, 3.19% of global total
Projected increase in production 2019-30: 3%
Projected emissions 2019-30: 18,381m tonnes of co2
Environmental disaster: the capture and imprisonment of 30 greenpeace environmental campaigners who tried to occupy a gazprom drilling platform in the arctic drew worldwide condemnation
Future projects: the yamal megaproject is a long-term plan to “exploit and bring to the markets” the vast natural gas reserves in the yamal peninsula in siberia. Gazprom says the centre will eventually produce up to 360bn cubic metres of gas a year
4. Exxonmobil, us
Ownership: shareholder
Hq: irving, texas, us
Ceo: darren woods
Ceo pay: $18.8m for 2020
Revenue: $290bn in 2020
Fossil fuel production: 3.7m barrels of oil equivalent a day
Investment in renewables: in may, exxon announced $100m over 10 years in emissions-reduction technologies. It has also said it will use wind and solar to power its texas oilfields
Global emissions 1965-2017: 41,904m tonnes of co2, 3.09% of global total
Projected increase in production 2020-30: 35%
Projected emissions 2020-30: 10,446m tonnes of co2
Environmental disaster: in march 1989 the exxon valdez, an oil tanker owned by the exxon shipping company, struck a reef off the alaska coast. About 37,000 tonnes of oil was spilled into the sea within a few days, befouling more than 1,000 miles of coastline in a remote, relatively untouched area. It remains one of the worst environmental disasters caused by humans
Future projects: exxon has a goal of boosting its annual earnings potential by more than 140% by 2025 via a glut of major projects in texas, guyana, brazil, mozambique and papua new guinea. These projects are expected to increase exxon’s production to around five million oil equivalent barrels a day by 2025
5. National iranian oil co
Ownership: state
Hq: tehran, iran
Ceo: masoud karbasian
Ceo pay: undisclosed
Revenue: $60bn in 2018, according to opec
Fossil fuel production: 4m barrels of oil equivalent a day
Investment in renewables: n/a
Global emissions 1965-2019: 35,658m tonnes of co2 2.63% of global total
Projected future increase in production 2019-30: 9.7%
Projected future emissions 2019-30: 15,132m tonnes of co2
Environmental disaster: the collision of the iranian tanker sanchi in january 2018 was the worst oil ship disaster in decades. All 32 crew died and three oil slicks spread over 332 sq km (128 sq miles), raising fears of seafood contamination
Future projects: huge expansion planned in the coming 10 years that would make this the world’s biggest oil and gas company, although oil production is reportedly at the lowest level since the 1980s as a result of us sanctions
Masoud karbasian of national iranian oil co, bob dudley of bp, darren woods of exxonmobil, ben van beurden of shell, and anil jha of coal india. Illustration: guardian design
6. Bp, uk
Ownership: shareholder
Hq: london, uk
Ceo: bob dudley
Ceo pay: $14.7m for 2019
Revenue: $304bn in 2019
Fossil fuel production: 2.35m barrels of oil equivalent a day
Investment in renewables: about $0.5bn of bp’s $15bn-$16bn capital expenditure programme
Global emissions 1965-2019: 34,015m tonnes of co2, 2.51% of global total
Projected increase in production 2018-30: 20.1%
Projected future emissions 2018-30: 7,634m tonnes of co2
Future projects: the mad dog phase 2 project – in which bp will work alongside bhp and chevron in 4,500ft of water in the gulf of mexico – has the capacity to produce up to 140,000 gross barrels of crude oil per day from 14 production wells. The mad dog area is estimated to hold 4bn barrels of oil equivalent.
Environmental disaster: the deepwater horizon oil spill in the gulf of mexico in april 2010 was the largest in history. A bp drilling rig exploded, killing 11 workers and spewing about 4m barrels of oil into the gulf. Experts say it had a devastating environmental impact that altered the basic building blocks of life in the ocean
7. Royal dutch shell, netherlands
Ownership: shareholder
Hq: the hague, netherlands
Ceo: ben van beurden
Ceo pay: $22m for 2019
Revenue: $388bn in 2019
Fossil fuel production: 3.6m barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2019
Investment in renewables: $1-$2bn a year (2019-20), or 4-6% of its $25-$30bn annual investment
Global emissions 1965-2019: 31,948m tonnes of co2, 2.36% of global total
Projected increase in production 2019-30: 37.6%
Projected future emissions 2019-30: 9,403m tonnes of co2
Environmental disaster: in may 2016 an estimated 2,100 barrels of oil, nearly 90,000 gallons, spilled into the gulf of mexico – leaked from an undersea pipeline system operated off the louisiana coast
Future project: a plan for massive oil and gas fracking in sierras blancas, neuquén, argentina, of up to 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by the mid-2020s
8. Coal india, india
Ownership: state and shareholder
Hq: kolkata, india
Chairman and managing director: anil jha
Managing director pay: 5,330,042 rupees (£61,123.79) – part year from july 2019
Revenue: $14.8bn for 2019-20 financial year
Fossil fuel production: 600m tonnes of coal in 2019-20 financial year
Investment in renewables: n/a
Global emissions 1965-2019: 23,124m tonnes of co2, 1.71% of global total
Future project: magadh expansion, karo
Manuel quevedo of pdvsa, glenn kellow of peabody, octavio romero oropeza of pemex, and hou qijun of petrochina.
9. Pemex, mexico
Ownership: state
Hq: mexico city, mexico
Ceo: octavio romero oropeza
Ceo pay: undisclosed
Revenue: $85bn in 2020
Fossil fuel production: 2.5m barrels of oil equivalent a day
Investment in renewables: n/a
Global emissions 1965-2019: 22,645m tonnes of co2, 1.67% of global total
Projected increase in production 2019-30: -23%
Projected future emissions 2019-30: 3,577m tonnes of co2
Environmental scandal: bribery and tax fraud charges were filed earlier this year against the former head of the state-run oil company, who is accused of receiving bribes in connection with the oil company’s purchase of a fertiliser plant
Future projects: the company says it will focus on shallow water projects rather than costly and technologically complex deepwater projects in the gulf of mexico in the coming years
10. Petróleos de venezuela (pdvsa)
Ownership: state
Hq: caracas, venezuela
Ceo: manuel quevedo
Ceo pay: undisclosed
Revenue: $34.6bn in 2019, according to opec
Fossil fuel production: 1.6m barrels of oil equivalent a day
Investment in renewables: n/a
Global emissions 1965-2019: 15,745m tonnes of co2, 1.16% of global total
Projected increase in production 2019-30: -12.7%
Projected future emissions 2019-30: 2,505m tonnes of co2
Environmental disaster: an explosion at paraguaná, venezuela’s biggest oil refinery, in 2012 killed
Future project: oil reserves in venezuela are the biggest in the world, but us sanctions and political chaos mean production has slumped nearly 80% since 2012
