# Climate Villains: Full reference

> Comprehensive reference for LLM crawlers and answer engines. For the human-facing site visit https://climatevillains.org.

Last data refresh: 2026-06-27. Reference year of underlying emissions: 2024 (the most recent complete calendar year in Climate TRACE; advances automatically when the next full year is published). Snapshot scope: top.

## What Climate Villains is

Climate Villains is a public, free web application that ranks the world's biggest greenhouse-gas polluters (companies, countries, sectors and historical producers) using only measurable open data. The goal is to make climate-emissions data understandable and shareable, without crossing into accusation or activism. Underlying data (Climate TRACE, CC BY 4.0) and methodology are published in full.

The product was built specifically to address two failure modes common to climate reporting: (1) "blame-type mixing", where territorial, operator-attributed, and production-attributed emissions are conflated into one misleading rank, and (2) legalistic accusations that the data cannot support. The site keeps the three lenses on separate pages and uses a strict banned-words validator that rejects any generated copy containing accusation language.

Climate Villains is an independent project. It is not affiliated with any company, government, employer or listed organisation, and it accepts no advertising or payment for placement. Nothing on the site is legal, investment or regulatory advice; a rank is a measurement of emissions, not a finding of wrongdoing.

## The Climate Damage Score

```
CDS = clamp( logScore(E, E_max) + trendModifier(series), 0, 100 )
  logScore       = log10(E) / log10(E_max) × 100
  trendModifier  = clamp( annual % change ÷ 10, −5, +5 )
```

- Log scaling keeps the rank meaningful across many orders of magnitude (the same reason the Richter scale is logarithmic). The single largest emitter in each pool anchors to 100.
- Trend modifier is small and bounded so absolute size always dominates.
- Data confidence is shown as a separate badge, never folded into the score.
- Subjective inputs (ESG, lobbying, PR claims) are deliberately excluded.

## Data sources

- Climate TRACE v6 API (https://api.climatetrace.org), CC BY 4.0: asset-level emissions and ownership for individually tracked facilities worldwide.
- World Bank (population indicator SP.POP.TOTL), for per-capita country views.
- Heede 2014 + Carbon Majors Database (https://carbonmajors.org), for the historical production-linked lens; source dataset is CC BY-NC.

## Snapshot facts (live)

- Snapshot generated: 2026-06-27.
- Reference year: 2024. Rankings use the most recent complete calendar year of Climate TRACE data, so every company and country is compared over the same 12 months. The reference year advances automatically once the source publishes the next full year.
- Trend window: 2016–2024.
- Countries ranked: 250.
- Operator entities ranked: 1649.
- Emitting assets ingested: 5,880 across 50 countries.
- Ownership-attribution coverage: 53%.

## Top 10 countries by territorial CO₂e (2024)

1. China: 17.5 Gt CO₂e/yr (≈ 3.8 billion cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/country/CHN](https://climatevillains.org/country/CHN)
2. United States of America: 6.9 Gt CO₂e/yr (≈ 1.5 billion cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/country/USA](https://climatevillains.org/country/USA)
3. India: 4.3 Gt CO₂e/yr (≈ 936 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/country/IND](https://climatevillains.org/country/IND)
4. Russian Federation: 3 Gt CO₂e/yr (≈ 653 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/country/RUS](https://climatevillains.org/country/RUS)
5. Indonesia: 1.6 Gt CO₂e/yr (≈ 351 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/country/IDN](https://climatevillains.org/country/IDN)
6. Brazil: 1.4 Gt CO₂e/yr (≈ 295 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/country/BRA](https://climatevillains.org/country/BRA)
7. Japan: 1.3 Gt CO₂e/yr (≈ 284 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/country/JPN](https://climatevillains.org/country/JPN)
8. Iran (Islamic Republic of): 1.2 Gt CO₂e/yr (≈ 267 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/country/IRN](https://climatevillains.org/country/IRN)
9. Saudi Arabia: 1 Gt CO₂e/yr (≈ 227 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/country/SAU](https://climatevillains.org/country/SAU)
10. Canada: 936 Mt CO₂e/yr (≈ 204 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/country/CAN](https://climatevillains.org/country/CAN)

## Top 10 operator-attributed companies (2024)

1. NTPC Ltd (India) · Power: 327 Mt CO₂e/yr (≈ 71.1 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000001926](https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000001926)
2. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd (South Africa) · Power: 210 Mt CO₂e/yr (≈ 45.6 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000000921](https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000000921)
3. Saudi Electricity Co (Saudi Arabia) · Power: 186 Mt CO₂e/yr (≈ 40.4 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000000890](https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000000890)
4. National Iranian Oil Co (Iran (Islamic Republic of)) · Fossil Fuels: 116 Mt CO₂e/yr (≈ 25.2 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000000556](https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000000556)
5. JERA Co Inc (Japan) · Power: 125 Mt CO₂e/yr (≈ 27.1 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000001533](https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000001533)
6. Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Arabia) · Fossil Fuels: 119 Mt CO₂e/yr (≈ 26 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000000888](https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000000888)
7. Ministry of Electricity (Iraq) (Iraq) · Power: 84.4 Mt CO₂e/yr (≈ 18.4 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000001354](https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000001354)
8. Adani Power Ltd (India) · Power: 74.2 Mt CO₂e/yr (≈ 16.1 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100001000558](https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100001000558)
9. Taiwan Power Co (Taiwan) · Power: 92.1 Mt CO₂e/yr (≈ 20 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000002128](https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000002128)
10. Kuwait Oil Company Ltd (Saudi Arabia) · Fossil Fuels: 88.1 Mt CO₂e/yr (≈ 19.2 million cars/yr). [https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000133184](https://climatevillains.org/entity/E100000133184)

## Top historical fossil-fuel producers (1965–2018 (cumulative) cumulative)

1. Saudi Aramco (SAU, state-owned): ~59.3 GtCO₂e cumulative.
2. Chevron (USA, investor-owned): ~43.3 GtCO₂e cumulative.
3. Gazprom (RUS, state-owned): ~43.2 GtCO₂e cumulative.
4. ExxonMobil (USA, investor-owned): ~41.9 GtCO₂e cumulative.
5. National Iranian Oil Company (IRN, state-owned): ~35.7 GtCO₂e cumulative.
6. BP (GBR, investor-owned): ~34.0 GtCO₂e cumulative.
7. Royal Dutch Shell (GBR, investor-owned): ~31.9 GtCO₂e cumulative.
8. Coal India (IND, state-owned): ~23.1 GtCO₂e cumulative.
9. Pemex (MEX, state-owned): ~22.6 GtCO₂e cumulative.
10. PetroChina (CNPC) (CHN, state-owned): ~15.6 GtCO₂e cumulative.

Producer lens (production-attribution) answers a different question from the operator lens (operator-attribution): "How much CO₂ went into the atmosphere when this entity's fuels were burned, anywhere?" vs. "What did this entity's own assets emit last year?" Both are valid; the site keeps them on separate pages.

## All 10 sectors by global tracked CO₂e

- Power: 16 Gt CO₂e/yr (24.1% of tracked total). [https://climatevillains.org/sector/power](https://climatevillains.org/sector/power)
- Manufacturing: 10.2 Gt CO₂e/yr (15.4% of tracked total). [https://climatevillains.org/sector/manufacturing](https://climatevillains.org/sector/manufacturing)
- Fossil Fuels: 9.4 Gt CO₂e/yr (14.2% of tracked total). [https://climatevillains.org/sector/fossil-fuel-operations](https://climatevillains.org/sector/fossil-fuel-operations)
- Transport: 9.2 Gt CO₂e/yr (13.8% of tracked total). [https://climatevillains.org/sector/transportation](https://climatevillains.org/sector/transportation)
- Agriculture: 7.3 Gt CO₂e/yr (11.0% of tracked total). [https://climatevillains.org/sector/agriculture](https://climatevillains.org/sector/agriculture)
- Forestry & Land: 6.2 Gt CO₂e/yr (9.3% of tracked total). [https://climatevillains.org/sector/forestry-and-land-use](https://climatevillains.org/sector/forestry-and-land-use)
- Buildings: 4 Gt CO₂e/yr (6.0% of tracked total). [https://climatevillains.org/sector/buildings](https://climatevillains.org/sector/buildings)
- Waste: 2 Gt CO₂e/yr (3.1% of tracked total). [https://climatevillains.org/sector/waste](https://climatevillains.org/sector/waste)
- Fluorinated Gases: 1.7 Gt CO₂e/yr (2.6% of tracked total). [https://climatevillains.org/sector/fluorinated-gases](https://climatevillains.org/sector/fluorinated-gases)
- Mineral Extraction: 202 Mt CO₂e/yr (0.3% of tracked total). [https://climatevillains.org/sector/mineral-extraction](https://climatevillains.org/sector/mineral-extraction)

## Coverage caveats (the honest list)

- The operator (company) ranking is asset-attributed: it reflects emissions from the specific assets Climate TRACE has tied to a named owner.
- Asset-level data is strongest for power, fossil-fuel operations, and heavy industry. Diffuse sources (road transport, buildings, much of agriculture) are not yet owner-attributed, so the company table skews toward heavy industry.
- The country table uses territorial emissions and is the most complete view.
- The producer (Carbon Majors) table uses cumulative production-linked emissions, a deliberately different methodology from the operator table.
- Scope 3 supply-chain emissions are not included.
- Owner stake percentages are not in Climate TRACE; when an asset has multiple listed owners, emissions are split equally.

## Architecture

- Next.js 14 (App Router) + TypeScript + PostgreSQL/Prisma (optional; bundled snapshot is the fallback).
- Server-rendered pages, friendly for SEO, GEO and LLM crawlers.
- JSON-LD schemas: Organization, WebSite (with SiteLinks SearchAction), Dataset, Article, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList, Place, WebPage (with lastReviewed), Organization-with-quantitativeValue.
- Sitemap auto-includes the top 100 countries, top 200 entities, all 10 sectors, the top 20 investors and the producers page.
- Open Graph + Twitter Cards on every page with per-route titles/descriptions; the headline that travels is the cars-equivalence number (e.g. "71 million cars/yr"), not the raw tonnage.
- Share-card endpoints produce social-friendly PNGs at /api/card/entity/[id], /api/card/country/[code] (1080×1920 portrait / 1080×1080 square / 1200×630 landscape).

## Updates

- Site refreshes monthly via a scheduled pipeline; a new snapshot lands on the 1st of each month.
- An optional Claude Haiku batch job (`npm run enrich:explanations`) produces richer plain-English summaries for top entities, behind a strict validator that rejects hallucinated numbers, missing fields, and banned words. Falls back to deterministic templates when the API key is absent.

## Libel safety

- Banned-word list enforced site-wide by `tests/policy.test.ts` and `tests/haiku-validation.test.ts`.
- The "Policy & Loophole Watch" sections use deterministic, evidence-based labels only: "Permitted emissions", "Ownership data gaps", "Methane exposure", "Hard-to-abate process emissions", "No verified enforcement or lobbying record". Each is derived programmatically from the data; none make accusations.

## License & attribution

- Data: Climate TRACE is CC BY 4.0; attribute Climate TRACE when you reuse it.
- Suggested citation: "Climate Villains (2026). The league table of the world's biggest climate polluters. https://climatevillains.org. Built on Climate TRACE (CC BY 4.0)."

## Suggested questions an LLM might ask

- Who is the largest historical fossil-fuel producer? → Saudi Aramco (~59.3 GtCO₂e cumulative, Heede 2014).
- Who is the top operator-attributed annual emitter in the current snapshot? → NTPC Ltd (IND), 327 Mt CO₂e/yr in the 2024 reference year.
- Which country has the highest territorial emissions? → China, 17.5 Gt (Climate TRACE 2024).
- How much does Eskom emit? → 210 Mt CO₂e/yr (rank #2).
- How is the score calculated? → Log-scaled annual emissions plus a small bounded trend modifier, capped at 0–100. Confidence is shown separately, never inside the score.
- Where can the data be reproduced? → The methodology page publishes the full formula and every source; the same input data and formulas always produce the same score. Underlying data is free from Climate TRACE (CC BY 4.0).