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The Polluter Elite Database

Written by Dario Kenner & published via Why Green Economy? in June 2019

The original piece can be accessed here.

We are currently at a moment of extreme and rising inequality in many countries around the world. Rarely are the links made between the extremely wealthy and the personal liability these individuals have in contributing to potentially irreversible climate change and mass species extinction.

The polluter elite are extremely rich individuals whose net worth, luxury lifestyle and political influence all rest on wealth that is derived from investments in polluting activities e.g. fossil fuels.

What differentiates the polluter elite from other stakeholders is that as major shareholders they profit from the fossil fuel economy.

As decision makers they approve lobbying of governments (funding lobbyists and direct donations to political parties) to block the transition away from fossil fuels.

They use their political power to restrict the consumption options of ordinary citizens to keep them “addicted” to lifestyles dependent on fossil fuels (e.g. diesel and petrol vehicles, plastic packaging, coal and gas for electricity, heating and cooking).

The polluter elite database lists the names of executives (CEO etc) and directors who are decision-makers at large multinational oil, gas and coal companies.

The objective of the database is to quantify personal responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions based on shareholding. This is different from emissions associated with personal consumption (e.g. flying). Investment emissions are based on the number of shares held in a polluting company. The shares held are used to calculate the percentage ownership of the company, and therefore the percentage of the company annual emissions. The main source to calculate investment emissions is the company annual report.

The date for which investment emissions are calculated is 31 December 2015. This is then applied to the annual company emissions for 2015. A specific date has to be used because shareholdings and other variable such as company annual emissions can change.

The companies listed in this database were taken from the Carbon Majors research by Richard Heede and Carbon Disclosure Project because they are the companies with the highest emissions.

Methodology

The same process was used for each member of the executive team and directors of the companies listed in the database.

  1. Number of shares identified from company annual report and filings (e.g. with Securities & Exchange Commission)

  2. Value of shares: Number of shares multiplied by share price

  3. % ownership of the company: Value of shares divided by total market capitalisation

  4. Personal share of company direct emissions: % ownership of company = % ownership of company annual emissions, tonnes of CO2e

Access to the database

The database can be downloaded by filling in the form below (see original site to . The document has been intentionally left open so that users can see equations and build on it. For the Downloads section of the form you need to click on downward arrow and click on Polluter Elite Database.

Matthew Wisner