SNOWMASS, Colo., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Just 90 companies cause two-thirds of man-made global warming emissions, a report by the Climate Accountability Institute in Colorado indicates.
Those companies include investor-owned firms with household names such as Chevron, Exxon and BP, and state-owned and government-run firms, the report said.
Writing in the journal Climatic Change, the report authors say he vast majority of the emitting firms were in the business of producing oil, gas or coal.
"There are thousands of oil, gas and coal producers in the world," climate researcher and lead author Richard Heede told Britain's The Guardian. "But the decision makers, the CEOs, or the ministers of coal and oil if you narrow it down to just one person, they could all fit on a Greyhound bus or two."
Many of the listed companies possess huge reserves of fossil fuel that, if consumed, would expose the world to even greater risks of dangerous climate change, the report authors said.
Former U.S. Vice President and environment campaigner Al Gore hailed the report.
"This study is a crucial step forward in our understanding of the evolution of the climate crisis," he told The Guardian. "The public and private sectors alike must do what is necessary to stop global warming.
"Those who are historically responsible for polluting our atmosphere have a clear obligation to be part of the solution."
