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orporations are killing
people day after day,
without having to fear
prosecution or other
consequences. That
might sound drastic—
but the situation itself
is even worse. If we cannot learn to
live in a carbon-neutral environment
by 20 3 5 a nd hold globa l wa r ming to
less than 1.5°C (2.7°F), our children
will not inherit the world that we’ve
been able to experience. And their
children could encounter a planet
so hostile to human existence that
civiliz ation a s we k now it may ce a se
to exist. To halt the climate change
that imper ils our wor ld, it is far from
enough to recycle, or ride a bike to
work, or vacation closer to home.
Even if everyone in the world were
to cooperate in such endeavors, we
would reduce carbon dioxide (CO 2 )
emissions by no more than 30%.
The reason: The world’s biggest
producers of CO 2 are 100 companies
among the 200 million enterprises
that are operating across the globe.
This means only 0.00005% of the
world’s companies are responsible
for about 70% of all CO 2 emissions.
That is the conclusion of a study
called the Carbon Majors Report.
Its authors point to the true villains
in this saga: corporations that must
change their behavior if we’re going
to save the Ear th. At the same time,the list is a source of hope because
it shows precisely where the most
pressure needs to be applied.
But those 100 companies are not
going to make this endeavor easy:
The cold hard truth about human-
induced climate change threatens
not only their business practices,
but their very existence.
On the following pages we lay out
a pathway to the goal of mitigating
climate change by 2035 while at the
same time illustrating how these 100
companies have sought to conceal
the truth about their activities. One
important method: discrediting their
critics. They will try to do the same
thing with articles such as this by
disparaging sources and motives.
But the facts are clear, as confi rmed
by thousands of climate studies, the
expertise of tens of thousands of
climate scientists, and the results of
massive amounts of data collected
worldwide. This is a battle against
the most powerful syndicate in the
world—and it will do everything it
can to fi ght back. Corporations are
not just working to maximize profi ts
regardless of the consequences,
which they see as their duty to their
shareholders. Their motto when it
comes to climate change is “Après
nous, le déluge”—in essence: “We
don’t care what happens after we’re
gone.” But make no mistake about it:
The deluge is coming!100 companies are responsible for more than
70% OF ALL CO 2 EMISSIONS. But who are they?
What secrets have they been keeping from us?
And what can we do to stop them?C
Scienceideasanddiscoveries.com 19 May 2020