World's largest oil and gas plant owners hide billions dollars climate costs

A report by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) reveals that major oil and gas power plant owners use accounting loopholes in the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol to hide billions of dollars in climate costs. By analyzing five top companies using the Global Energy Ownership Tracker and Climate TRACE data, GEM identified 10.7 million tonnes of undisclosed CO2 emissions for 2022, representing $2 billion in annual social costs.

• Five of the world's top oil- and gas-fired power plant owners failed to disclose 10.7 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2022. This omission represents an annual social cost of $2 billion in climate costs, with the remaining lifetime climate cost of the hidden gas plants estimated at $43 billion.
• Saudi Electricity Company, the world's largest owner of gas-fired capacity, did not disclose over 7 million tonnes of CO2 in 2022. This results in annual climate costs of US$1.3 billion and nearly $33 billion over the lifetime of the plants. The company excluded three plants—Shuqaiq 2 Independent Water and Power Project, Qurayyah CC power plant, and Rabigh 2 IPP power station—by setting reporting boundaries to only include six specific subsidiaries and entities where it has 'operational control'.
• Companies utilize loopholes in the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol to avoid disclosing emissions from assets they beneficially own. Specifically, the 'operational control approach' allows a company to ignore emissions if another entity operates the plant, while the 'financial control approach' allows the exclusion of plants where the company does not have financial control, even if it receives a profit split.
• Egyptian Electricity Holding Company failed to disclose six gas plants that it owns 100%, despite disclosing 31 of its 37 power plants. The undisclosed plants are the Assiut Mobile, Mallawi Mobile, West Assiut Mobile, Gerga Mobile, Bani Ghalib Mobile, and Samalut Mobile power plants.
• Chubu Electric Power Co. Inc. does not disclose emissions for five gas plants—Enecogen power station, Ras Laffan B power plant, Ras Laffan C power plant, Merwedekanaal power station, and Lage Weide 6 power station—because it holds 20% or less ownership in each and they fall outside the company's chosen reporting boundary.
• Entergy Corporation excluded the Louisiana 1 Power Station from its emissions calculations, claiming it lacks operational control because the plant is leased to Exxon. However, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data contradicts this, indicating Entergy is the operator of all units in the station.

APA

Mowat, A. (2024). World's largest oil and gas plant owners hide billions dollars climate costs. Global Energy Monitor. https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/worlds-largest-oil-and-gas-plant-owners-hide-billions-dollars-climate-costs

Chicago

Mowat, Anna. World's largest oil and gas plant owners hide billions dollars climate costs. Global Energy Monitor, 2024. https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/worlds-largest-oil-and-gas-plant-owners-hide-billions-dollars-climate-costs.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mowat |first1=Anna |title=World's largest oil and gas plant owners hide billions dollars climate costs |publisher=Global Energy Monitor |date=29 November 2024 |url=https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/worlds-largest-oil-and-gas-plant-owners-hide-billions-dollars-climate-costs |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mowat2024worlds, author = {Mowat, Anna}, title = {{World's largest oil and gas plant owners hide billions dollars climate costs}}, institution = {Global Energy Monitor}, year = {2024}, month = nov, url = {https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/worlds-largest-oil-and-gas-plant-owners-hide-billions-dollars-climate-costs}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }