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Environment

10 finance firms effectively own half of all future carbon emissions

An analysis of the 200 largest fossil fuel companies suggests that just 10 shareholders could influence the fate of nearly half of the world's remaining fossil fuels

By James Dinneen

6 August 2022

Steam rises from an oil refinement facility. Two American flags are displayed in an industrial setting with many pipes, tanks, and buildings.

The Marathon Petroleum Corp’s Los Angeles Refinery in Carson, California

Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Just 10 financial institutions own nearly half of the unburned fossil fuels from the world’s largest fossil fuel companies.

The Carbon Underground 200 is a list of the 200 largest fossil fuel companies, created by FFI Solutions, a sustainable investing firm. Combined, the companies own 98 per cent of known fossil fuel reserves, an amount that would emit 674 gigatonnes of carbon if burned – nearly triple the global carbon emissions limits needed to constrain global warming within the 1.5°C …

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