Africa accounts for less than 4%
A landmark report released by the think tank InfluenceMap presents a stark quantification of global carbon dioxide emissions, revealing an extreme concentration of responsibility within the fossil fuel sector.
The analysis, known as the Carbon Majors database, identifies that in 2024, merely 32 fossil fuel companies were directly linked to half of all global CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels, a consolidation from 36 companies the previous year.
This trend underscores a concerning dynamic where overall emissions continue to rise to record levels annually, while accountability is increasingly focused on a shrinking consortium of high-emitting producers. At the apex of this list is Saudi Aramco, the state-owned Saudi energy giant, which alone was responsible for 1.7 billion tonnes of CO₂.
For context, if Aramco were a sovereign nation, its emissions would rank as the fifth highest in the world, trailing only Russia. The leading investor-owned polluter is ExxonMobil, linked to 610 million tonnes of CO₂, a volume that would position it as the ninth-largest global emitter, exceeding the total output of South Korea.
A critical insight from the report is the dominant role of state-controlled entities in the upper echelons of emissions. Seventeen of the top twenty emitters are state-owned companies, whose operational mandates are directly tied to the energy and economic policies of their home governments.
Notably, these governments—including Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and India—collectively opposed a proposed fossil fuel phaseout during the COP30 UN climate summit in December, positioning them at the center of international political friction on climate ambition. The report has drawn sharp criticism from climate advocacy groups, with leaders such as Tzeporah Berman of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative accusing these concentrated majors of “sabotaging climate action” and being “on the wrong side of history.”
The data further elucidates profound regional disparities in contribution to the global emissions inventory. Asian companies are overwhelmingly the largest collective bloc, accounting for 31.9 percent of global fossil CO₂ emissions, with over 81 percent of that derived from coal combustion. European and North American companies follow, contributing 15.2 percent and 11.2 percent respectively, while firms based in the Middle East account for 12.9 percent. In stark contrast, the analysis finds that the entire African continent’s fossil fuel companies contribute less than 4 percent to the global total.
This figure arrives amidst ongoing international pressure, primarily from Western nations, for African countries to limit the development and exploitation of their hydrocarbon resources. The report does note, however, that Africa experienced the highest proportional increase in emissions at 4.8 percent, reflecting ongoing industrial and energy development, while in South America, most assessed companies also increased their output.
The Carbon Majors database itself has evolved into a pivotal evidential tool for climate accountability and attribution science. It has underpinned peer-reviewed studies that directly link emissions from specific companies to increased frequency and intensity of deadly heatwaves and has enabled economists to attribute trillions of dollars in climate-related economic damages to individual corporate actors.
This scientific foundation is increasingly migrating into the legal and legislative arena. The database has provided evidence in pioneering climate litigation cases, such as Lliuya v. RWE in Germany, and is informing the development of “climate superfund” laws in jurisdictions like New York and Vermont, which seek to compel major fossil fuel companies to finance community resilience and adaptation projects.
The broader context remains one of urgent crisis. Global carbon emissions have rebounded to record levels following a temporary decline during the COVID-19 pandemic. To align with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, a target now widely viewed as unattainable in the near term, emissions would need to fall by 45 percent by 2030. Experts emphasize that limiting the overshoot of this target is paramount, as every incremental fraction of a degree of warming exponentially worsens impacts on communities worldwide.
The report concludes by framing a central paradox of the climate era: the entities most historically responsible for causing the crisis, and which retain significant geopolitical and economic power, are also those most structurally resistant to the systemic changes necessary to resolve it.
Discussion about this post