It’s no secret that fossil fuel and cement companies are the worst carbon offenders, but what you may not realize is that the fate of the global climate rests predominantly on the shoulders of fewer than three dozen firms.
That’s according to a new report from Carbon Majors, a database of historical production data from 178 of the world’s largest oil, gas, coal, and cement companies. The findings indicate that just 32 firms were responsible for more than half of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel and cement production in 2024.
This is down from 36 companies in 2023, indicating that the individual contributions from the world’s fossil fuel and cement producers have primarily grown. The report linked 34.7 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2024 to 166 of these companies, a 0.8% increase from their total emissions in 2023.
“Each year, global emissions become increasingly concentrated among a shrinking group of high-emitting producers, while overall production continues to grow,” Emmett Connaire, lead author of the report and a senior analyst at the think tank InfluenceMap, which runs the Carbon Majors database, told The Guardian.
State-owned firms dominate global emissions
All of the top 10 emitters, which together produced 27.6% of global fossil fuel CO2 emissions in 2024, are fully or majority state-owned companies. In fact, the 70 active state-owned companies assessed by this report dominated global fossil fuel emissions that year, accounting for 54.4% while 93 investor-owned companies accounted for 23.7%
Five of the top 10 state-owned companies belong to China. Two are owned by Russia, and the remaining three are owned by Saudi Arabia, India, and Iran, respectively. The top-polluting company, Aramco, is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia. It was responsible for 4.3% of global fossil fuel and cement CO2 emissions in 2024.
Between 2023 and 2024, most state-owned companies saw their emissions rise, with 38 increasing and 29 decreasing. By contrast, the majority of investor-owned firms reduced their emissions—54 declined while 39 increased. Still, investor-owned companies accounted for a significant share of global fossil fuel and cement CO2 emissions in 2024, with ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, and ConocoPhillips topping the list.
Data is power
While the data is undoubtedly disheartening, it can also empower communities to hold these companies accountable for their planet-warming emissions.
In 2025, accountability mechanisms grounded in historical corporate emissions data continued to gain momentum. More than a dozen U.S. states, for example, cited this data to support climate superfund bills that would require large fossil fuel companies to fund protections for communities facing climate impacts such as extreme heat and flooding.
Climate attribution studies can also use this data to identify links between these climate impacts and corporate emissions. One such study, published by Nature in September 2025, found that emissions from carbon majors have contributed to half the increase in heatwave intensity from the 1850 to 1900 timeframe.
Corporate accountability will only become more critical as the global average temperature continues to rise. It is becoming increasingly clear that a small number of entities hold outsized power over our climate future, but harnessing this knowledge can give power back to the people.
Read more: The Richest 1% Blew Their 2026 Carbon Budget in 10 Days. Some Did it in 3
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