State-Backed Firms Emit 7.5 Billion Tons of Carbon a Year, Study Finds
Researchers estimate that China’s state-owned-enterprises are responsible for almost 70% those global emissions.
Emissions rise from Huaneng Power International Inc.'s Gaobeidian thermal power station in Beijing.
Photographer: Giulia Marchi/BloombergSome countries have a powerful lever to curb emissions and channel investment into clean technologies, with relatively little red tape. The governments can target their own state enterprises.
Nearly 300 state-owned enterprises — government-backed businesses that produce everything from electricity to steel and cement — emit greenhouse gases equivalent to at least 7.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide every year, according to a study released Thursday from Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy. Chinese SOEs were responsible more than 5 billion tons, or 69% of estimated total, followed by Russia and India at close to 4% each. More than two dozen other nations had smaller shares.
“State ownership provides these governments with a major direct point of control over the climate and energy outcomes of these companies,” authors Alex Clark and Philippe Benoit wrote. “Improving the measurement of SOEs’ contribution to both national and global-level emissions provides important information to help understand to what extent SOEs should be targeted.”
Governments also have the ability to directly influence emissions from private companies through procurement contracts. Public sector purchases are responsible for 15% of global emissions, according to a separate report from the World Economic Forum and Boston Consulting Group released this week. Governments currently spend $11 trillion on procurement every year, making it a crucial tool for reducing greenhouse gases.