London: The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies.
A new research found that the companies produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age.
The companies range from investor-owned firms, household names such as Chevron, Exxon and BP, to state-owned and government-run firms, the Guardian reports.
According to the report, the analysis found that the vast majority of the firms were in the business of producing oil, gas or coal.
Half of the estimated emissions were produced just in the past 25 years.
The report said that the 90 companies on the list of top emitters produced 63 percent of the cumulative global emissions of industrial carbon dioxide and methane between 1751 and 2010, amounting to about 914 gigatonne CO2 emissions.
All but seven of the 90 were energy companies producing oil, gas and coal. The remaining seven were cement manufacturers.
The list of 90 companies included 50 investor-owned firms - mainly oil companies with widely recognised names such as Chevron, Exxon, BP, and Royal Dutch Shell and coal producers such as British Coal Corp, Peabody Energy and BHP Billiton, the report added.
