Overview

Carbon Majors is an open data tool that attributes historical and ongoing greenhouse gas emissions to major fossil fuel producers. It consolidates emissions data at company and state-owned entity level. Finance professionals may use it to assess climate-related risks, accountability, and transition exposure linked to fossil fuel production.

Organisation behind the tool

The tool is developed and maintained by InfluenceMap, an independent non-profit research organisation focused on climate policy, corporate influence, and financial risk. Carbon Majors operates as a flagship research initiative within InfluenceMap rather than as a separate legal entity.

What the tool does

Carbon Majors provides a structured dataset and analytical framework that allows users to:

• Attribute global carbon dioxide and methane emissions to individual fossil fuel producers.
• View emissions linked to investor-owned companies, state-owned enterprises, and nation states.
• Access historical emissions data spanning from the mid-19th century to recent years.
• Download datasets for independent analysis and modelling.
• Review transparent methodologies explaining attribution assumptions and calculation approaches.
• Examine summary reports and visualisations highlighting concentration of emissions among major producers.

Target audience

The primary audience includes researchers, policymakers, civil society organisations, and legal professionals focused on climate accountability. Secondary audiences include investors, financial analysts, insurers, regulators, journalists, and academics. The tool is also accessible to the general public with an interest in emissions responsibility.

Relevance to finance professionals

Carbon Majors can be applied in financial analysis and decision-making in several ways:

Risk assessment

• Identification of companies with high historical and ongoing emissions exposure.
• Input into transition risk, litigation risk, and regulatory risk analysis.

ESG analysis

• Use of emissions attribution data to support climate-related disclosures and reporting.
• Contextual assessment of corporate environmental impact beyond operational emissions.

Market and sector insights

• Analysis of fossil fuel sector concentration and systemic emissions drivers.
• Comparison between investor-owned and state-owned producers.

Investment context

• Support for long-term portfolio alignment analysis with climate transition pathways.
• Input into stewardship, engagement, and exclusion decisions related to high-emitting producers.

The tool is designed to support evidence-based analysis rather than investment recommendations and is commonly used as an input alongside other financial and climate datasets.