Half of Global C02 Emissions Come From 32 Companies: Report

A new report shows that by 2024, more than half of global carbon dioxide emissions will come from just 32 fossil fuel companies.

The research was conducted by Carbon Majorfound that Saudi Aramco was the largest state-controlled polluter—emitting 1.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide that year, most of it from oil exports. ExxonMobil is the largest investor-owned polluter, emitting 610 million tons of carbon dioxide.

The report said that most of the top 20 emitters accused of “undermining climate action” are state-owned oil, gas, coal and cement producers, and these 17 countries all opposed the phasing out of fossil fuels recommendations made by 80 countries at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil late last year.

China, India coal giants

“The list is dominated by state-owned enterprises, accounting for 16 of the top 20 companies. Notably, eight of the top 20 companies are Chinese. Coal producers are particularly prominent, with seven companies, six from China and one from India, underscoring Asia’s continued dependence on coal.”

According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2024 is the first calendar year in which the global average temperature exceeds pre-industrial levels (1850-1900) by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The report said it was a stark warning of the urgent need for climate action.

Global emissions have been rising since the COVID-19 pandemic, and while the world is no longer expected to keep global warming below the 1.5 degrees Celsius mandated by the Paris Agreement, scientists say limiting global warming to a few tenths of a degree is still important to reduce climate impacts on communities around the world.

The latest report shows emissions are concentrated among a shrinking group of global emitters such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and India, as well as among a powerful group of fossil fuel companies.

legal claims

But the Carbon Major’s report also warned that the emissions data it and scientists collect are now often used in legal claims against these state-owned and private entities, and that courts around the world are increasingly sympathetic to the findings.

Carbon Professional Database used in recent analysis Directly related carbon emissions From the world’s largest fossil fuel companies to dozens of deadly heat waves.

The data also prompted another Research published in Nature Last year, the report said trillions of dollars in economic losses due to extreme heat could be attributed to individual fossil fuel companies.

At least 226 new climate cases will be brought in 2024, according to Grantham Institute Global Trends in Climate Change Litigation: An Overview to 2025The report said 20% of those cases now target businesses.

Notably, the report said, “cases against corporate defendants appear to have a higher overall success rate than non-corporate defendants, underscoring the growing viability of corporate climate litigation as a strategy.”

Note: Additional text was added to this report on January 22, 2026.

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Jim Pollard

Jim Pollard is an Australian journalist based in Thailand since 1999. He worked for News Ltd newspapers in Sydney, Perth, London and Melbourne before traveling to South East Asia in the late 1990s. He served as a senior editor at The Nation for more than 17 years.

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