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

Global Energy Monitor (GEM) identifies that five major oil and gas plant owners failed to disclose 10.7 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2022, resulting in an annual social cost of $2 billion. The report highlights how companies use the 'operational control' and 'financial control' approaches of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to exclude assets from their reporting boundaries. Specifically, the Saudi Electricity Company failed to disclose over 7 million tonnes of CO2 from three plants, representing $1.3 billion in annual climate costs. Other analyzed entities, including Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, Calpine Corporation, Chubu Electric Power Co. Inc., and Entergy Corporation, also exhibited gaps between their reported emissions and their actual asset ownership.

• Five of the top companies owning oil- and gas-fired power plants failed to disclose 10.7 million tonnes of CO2 emissions for 2022, which represents $2 billion in annual climate costs and $43 billion in remaining lifetime climate costs for the hidden gas plants.
• The Saudi Electricity Company, the world's largest owner of gas-fired capacity, did not disclose over 7 million tonnes of CO2 in 2022, leading to annual climate costs of US$1.3 billion and nearly $33 billion over the lifetime of the plants.
• Companies utilize loopholes in the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, specifically the operational and financial control approaches, to avoid reporting emissions from assets where they are beneficial owners but do not hold operational or financial control.
• Egyptian Electricity Holding Company omitted six gas plants from its emissions report despite 100% ownership of these assets, which include the Assiut, Mallawi, West Assiut, Gerga, Bani Ghalib, and Samalut mobile power plants.
• Chubu Electric Power Co. Inc. does not disclose emissions for five gas plants (Enecogen, Ras Laffan B, Ras Laffan C, Merwedekanaal, and Lage Weide 6) because it holds 20% or less ownership in each, and these fall outside its chosen reporting boundary.
• Entergy Corporation excluded the Louisiana 1 Power Station from its emissions calculations, claiming it is for the sole use of Exxon under a lease; however, EIA data indicates Entergy is the operator of all units in that 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} }