Big corporations’ carbon emissions skyrocket

A new report from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reveals that just 50 corporations produce 73 percent of the carbon emissions of the world’s 500 largest companies.

The Global 500 climate change report 2013 identifies ExxonMobil, the biggest of the oil giants, as one of the worst offenders. Exxon is already infamous for environmental devastation in Alaska, mass murder in Aceh and funding junk science in the US. Just days before the CDP released its report, Pennsylvania’s attorney general charged the company with illegally dumping 57,000 gallons [215,000 litres] of contaminated fracking waste fluid.

Since 2009, the emissions of the 10 biggest emitters in the energy sector have increased by an incredible 53 percent; almost a quarter of the largest energy companies haven’t even bothered to set targets for reducing their emissions.

Samsung emitted the most greenhouse gas per unit of revenue in the information technology sector, and Bayer Pharmaceuticals in health care.

Walmart topped the list of greenhouse gas emitters per unit of revenue in consumer staples. The US retail giant bases its business model on union busting and systematically driving down the wages of some of the poorest workers, again showing that environmental destruction and disregard for human rights go together.