A new analysis released last week by the international non-profit InfluenceMap reveals an overwhelmingly unequal share of fossil fuel pollution worldwide. From 2016 to 2022, 80 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions were produced by just 57 companies.
So the fact that I drive a hybrid†, minimize my overall driving, only buy like 3 tanks of gas a year, have cut out 70% of my beef consumption (yay, Beyond, Impossible, et al), and generally try to reduce or at least minimize my carbon and pollution footprint…means nothing. Great.
Still going to keep doing my part ‡ even though it’s not even a drop in the bucket.
† When I bought it, an EV wasn’t practical for my situation. It’s only 6 years old and has plenty of life left, so figure it’s worth it to hang onto it.
‡ Yes, I know the whole “carbon footprint” thing is basically victim-blaming propaganda. Doesn’t mean I still shouldn’t try to minimize my environmental impact regardless.
Well, if any of those are oil companies, your driving an EV is cutting demand for their product*. I wonder what other products are in there. I’m not trying to place blame back on consumers. We do vote with our money, but we’re also sometimes trapped by our needs and choices in ways that only regulation might solve. I think the second part is the point of any story like this one, but the first part is something we can still try to do.
The top ones in a previous iteration of the list were all oil, coal and other energy companies. I believe Saudi Aramco led the list by a wide margin.
So yes, reducing our oil dependence is about the only way we can affect these companies.