UMass Updates List of Top Corporate Contributors to Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) released on October 9, the second annual edition of the Greenhouse 100 Suppliers Index, a comprehensive ranking of corporations that contribute to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by supplying fossil fuels. For the first time, PERI has also released the companion Greenhouse 100 Suppliers State List, presenting state-level rankings for the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels supplied within their borders. The indexes are based on the most recent data available from the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The rankings provide a window into corporate responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions and potential liability for the resulting damage to Earth’s climate.

“In making this information available, we are building on the historic achievements of the right-to-know movement,” explains Professor Michael Ash, co-director of PERI’s Corporate Toxics Information Project. “Our goal is to engender public participation in environmental decision-making, and to help residents translate the right to know into the right to clean air, clean water and a livable planet.”

The Greenhouse 100 Suppliers rankings come with an open-access database that provides information on all fossil fuel suppliers in the country and by state, both at the level of individual facilities and at the level of parent corporations that own them, as well as a comprehensive search tool for every fossil fuel corporation.

Four oil companies top the national index: Marathon Petroleum, Phillips 66, Valero Energy and ExxonMobil account collectively for one-quarter of the total greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion in the U.S. economy. Rounding out the top 10 are two coal companies, Peabody Energy (No. 5) and Arch Resources (No. 7), three additional oil companies, Chevron (No. 6), PBF Energy (No. 9) and PDVSA (No. 10), and a natural gas firm, Enterprise Products Partners (No. 8). The top 10 fossil fuel suppliers alone account for over 40% of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel in the U.S.

Texas, Wyoming, Louisiana, California and Illinois top the Greenhouse 100 Suppliers State List for the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels introduced within their borders. The recent court case Held v. Montana, a historic victory for young climate advocates, drew attention to the importance of fossil fuel production at the state level. (Montana is No. 14 on the list.)

The Greenhouse 100 Suppliers Index is the first comprehensive database to cover emissions from all three fossil fuels: oil, natural gas and coal. The rankings are based on 2021 data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Project (GHGRP) on oil and natural gas suppliers, together with data on coal suppliers from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the Mine Safety and Health Administration, using methods described in a peer-reviewed journal article. (Coal suppliers were exempted from the reporting requirements of the GHGRP.) This latest edition of the Greenhouse 100 Suppliers contains more detailed data, especially for coal mines.