Carbon Market Watch published on Monday the Top 30 companies “that make up the EU’s emissions aristocracy.” The list was compiled by “pairing EU ETS account holders (and their installations) to their parent companies, assessing the highest level of private ownership possible.”

The report, suggestively entitled “The Emissions Aristocracy,” reveals that, in 2022, out of a total of 3515 companies covered by the EU ETS, “certain large companies have a disproportionately large role in fuelling the climate crisis and, hence, should bear a greater responsibility for taking climate action.”

Data compiled by Carbon Market Watch shows that, in 2022, top 30 companies were responsible for more than 50% of the verified emissions under the EU ETS and around 25% of the total emissions in the EU.

As expected, the list is dominated by the power sector. The largest three emitters are all energy companies. Unsurprisingly, the German giant Rewe topped the list by a huge margin, a position it has held since the EU ETS started in 2005. 

The countries best represented in the emissions aristocracy list are Germany and Poland with 5 companies each, followed by France and the Czech Republic, both with 3 companies and Italy with 2.