The Top 10 Polluters In The World

The Carbon Majors 2024 Data from InfluenceMap is issued annually. The most recent report, released this week, ranks the top emitters based on 2024 fossil fuel and cement CO₂ emissions traced to 166 major producers. According to the report, “Global fossil CO₂ emissions were approximately 38.6 GtCO₂ (gigatonnes), with the database tracing 34.7 GtCO₂e (including methane equivalents) to these entities (about 80% of the total).”

Definitions:

• GtCO₂ = gigatonnes of carbon dioxide
• GtCO₂e = gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent
• MtCO₂e = million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (total)
• MtCO₂ = million tonnes of CO₂ only

The top 10 emitters were all fully or majority state-owned and collectively responsible for 27.6% of global fossil CO₂ emissions in 2024.

The Top 10 Emitters:

Saudi Aramco (State-owned, Saudi Arabia)

• Total emissions: 1,786 MtCO₂e
• CO₂ emissions: 1,653 MtCO₂
• % of global CO₂ emissions: 4.28%
• Notes: Largest single emitter; mostly from exported oil. If it were a country, it would rank approximately 5th globally.

Coal India (State-owned, India)

• Total emissions: 1,684 MtCO₂e
• CO₂ emissions: 1,513 MtCO₂
• % of global CO₂ emissions: 3.92%

CHN Energy (State-owned, China)

• Total emissions: 1,679 MtCO₂e
• CO₂ emissions: 1,509 MtCO₂
• % of global CO₂ emissions: 3.91%

National Iranian Oil Company (State-owned, Iran)

• Total emissions: 1,387 MtCO₂e
• CO₂ emissions: 1,208 MtCO₂
• % of global CO₂ emissions: 3.13%

Gazprom (State-owned, Russia)

• Total emissions: 1,293 MtCO₂e
• CO₂ emissions: 1,065 MtCO₂
• % of global CO₂ emissions: 2.76%

Jinneng Group (State-owned, China)

• Total emissions: 1,129 MtCO₂e
• CO₂ emissions: 1,014 MtCO₂
• % of global CO₂ emissions: 2.63%

China (Cement) (State-owned, China)

• Total emissions: 950 MtCO₂e
• CO₂ emissions: 950 MtCO₂
• % of global CO₂ emissions: 2.46%

Rosneft (State-owned, Russia)

• Total emissions: 763 MtCO₂e
• CO₂ emissions: 690 MtCO₂
• % of global CO₂ emissions: 1.79%

CNPC (State-owned, China)

• Total emissions: 750 MtCO₂e
• CO₂ emissions: 655 MtCO₂
• % of global CO₂ emissions: 1.70%

Shandong Energy (State-owned, China)

• Total emissions: 750 MtCO₂e
• CO₂ emissions: 674 MtCO₂
• % of global CO₂ emissions: 1.74%

The report’s authors noted: “The Carbon Majors database shows that 17 of the top 20 emitting Carbon Majors are controlled by governments that formed this opposition: Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Iraq, Qatar, and India.”

Publicly traded companies also made the list, though at much lower levels. The report shows, “The top five investor-owned emitters—ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, and ConocoPhillips—accounted for 5.5% of global fossil fuel and cement CO₂ emissions in 2024 (2.4 GtCO₂e).”

“Each year, global emissions become increasingly concentrated among a shrinking group of high-emitting producers, while overall production continues to grow. Simultaneously, these heavy emitters continue to use lobbying to obstruct a transition that the scientific community has known for decades is essential,” commented Emmett Connaire, senior analyst at InfluenceMap.