Just 100 companies responsible for 71% of global emissions, study says

Rail transport is the most environment-friendly way to travel. The greenhouse effect of gas emissions per kilometer on railway transport is 80% less than cars. In some countries, less than 3% of all transport gas emissions come from trains.

Still, planes remain among the most polluting means of transport, together with cars. On a journey of, for example, 500 hundred kilometers, a plane pollutes 10 to 50 times more than a high-speed electric train and 5 to 10 times more than a bus.

Tuvalu

China

Unsurprisingly, the companies most responsible for climate change included Saudi Aramco, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Gazprom, and National Iranian Oil Company—companies spread across the Middle East, Europe, Russia, and the United States. The top emitter was China’s state-owned coal and cement production company.

A new model, based on historical climate data, has projected the Earth’s temperature until 2100. Researchers say it can reduce prediction uncertainties by around 50%. They found that we’ll likely cross threshold for dangerous warming (+1.5 C) between 2027 and 2042.

Because Amazon delivers anything everywhere, it has an enormous carbon footprint. In 2018, Amazon emitted 44.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide — greater than the carbon footprint of Switzerland. But the emissions from delivering items all over the world is not the real issue.

(Bezos said Amazon currently gets 40 percent of its energy from renewables.) “Our research shows that delivering a typical order to an Amazon customer is more environmentally friendly than that customer driving to a store,” an Amazon sustainability representative wrote to Grist in an email last year.

2,224.2 tonnes

Our focus is achieving net zero carbon shipments through sustainable process improvements, recycled materials, investments in electrification, and renewable energy initiatives. Transportation is a major component of Amazon’s business operations and a key part of our plan to meet net zero carbon by 2040.

In September 2019, after almost a year of pressure from rank-and-file employees, Amazon finally released a report detailing the company’s impact on the environment. In 2018 it emitted 44.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents into the atmosphere – roughly equal to the annual emissions of Norway.

The online shopping giant said activities tied to its businesses emitted 51.17 million metric tons of carbon dioxide last year, the equivalent of 13 coal burning power plants running for a year. That’s up from 2018, when it reported a carbon footprint of 44.4 million metric tons.

Amazon has disrupted traditional retail and accelerated the demise of struggling players. Some economy watchers are nervous about Amazon’s deflationary impact. Ideally, low unemployment is accompanied by wage growth, which in turn fuels inflation as companies pass on the costs to consumers.