Carbon majors: accounting for carbon and methane emissions 1854-2010
The primary objective is to quantify and trace historic and cumulative emissions of carbon dioxide and methane to the largest extant fossil fuel and cement producers. This project focuses on the industrial carbon fuels and cement manufacturing, and details the annual and cumulative contribution of each of the largest 90 producers from as early as 1854 (but typically later) to 2010. National greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories estimate aggregate emissions of the six “Kyoto gases,” chiefly from fuel consumption, process emissions, fugitive methane, and land-‐use changes. This project’s focus is to trace emissions back to the corporate producers of the lion’s share of the world’s carbon fuels and cement. Current production of fossil fuels by multinational and state energy enterprises is well known, as are the historic emissions of the world’s 196 countries. This project is a first attempt at aggregating historic data by carbon producing entities. The work is unique in converting production of all fossil fuels into the carbon content and resulting emissions of carbon dioxide upon the combustion of marketed fuels, and in tracing emissions to the primary producing entities.