100 times more than Switzerland: the huge carbon footprint of commodity traders

At the 29th UN Climate Change Conference, which begins today in Azerbaijan, the Swiss commodity industry is likely to be well represented. However, trading companies have ignored the Paris climate targets adopted by the international community in 2015 and are continuing to do so to a yet unquantified extent. Last year, the combined carbon footprint of Glencore, Gunvor, Mercuria, Trafigura and Vitol exceeded four billion tonnes of CO₂, over one hundred times more than that of their adopted home, Switzerland. This is revealed in estimates produced by Public Eye, based on publicly available data. The lion’s share of this volume is attributable to the indirect emissions produced by the companies’ global value chains, also known as scope 3 emissions. They include emissions from maritime transport but, most importantly, those that are produced during the combustion of the traded coal, oil and gas          . These key figures either do not appear at all in the sustainability reports published by these companies or are far too low.

Even when faced with growing public pressure, Switzerland’s industry leaders still show a significant lack of transparency on climate. They are aiming to cover up the fact that the billions in profits they have generated in recent years have been channelled into further oil and gas deals instead of bringing about the overdue transformation of their fossil business model. In addition, the reduction measures and climate targets proposed by Glencore and the others are either not nearly ambitious enough or simply non-existent. Some companies even exaggerate their alleged progress in terms by using misleading calculations. Our methodical evaluation of these companies’ environmental reports shows that the goals of this high-risk sector, which is stuck in the fossil fuel era, are fundamentally out of step with the Paris climate targets.

Switzerland’s largest commodity trading companies have contributed to the momentous climate crisis, while generating massive profits from it in the process. Therefore, their attempts to become involved in trading carbon offsets and to promote their own forestry and cookstove projects as a solution to the climate crisis appear to be a cynical move. Their offsetting projects are highly controversial from a scientific perspective and are also grotesquely disproportionate to the damage being caused. Switzerland’s Parliament and Federal Council must provide greater transparency about the true contribution of this significant economic sector to the global climate crisis by introducing stricter reporting guidelines and ensuring that the sector does not continue to ride roughshod over the targets of the Paris Agreement.

More information is available here or from:

Oliver Classen, Media Officer, +41 (0)44 277 79 06, oliver.classen@publiceye.ch

Manuel Abebe, Researcher, +41 (0)77 455 42 34, manuel.abebe@publiceye.ch