Australian mining giant among 81 major carbon emitters being called on to compensate victims of global warming

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Australian mining giant BHP Billiton accounts for more than half of 1% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, a report has found.

The Heinrich Böll Foundation, a German thinktank, ranks BHP No 20 on its list of 81 major carbon emitters in its annual Carbon Majors Funding, Loss and Damage report.

The report calls on fossil fuel companies to take their share of the burden and pay into a fund for the victims of global warming.

BHP accounts for 0.52% of emissions, which is far behind No 1 emitter Chevron Texaco at 3.51%.

"The big oil and gas companies can no longer dodge their legal and moral responsibility to pay for climate change loss and damage their products have caused," Heinrich Böll Foundation president Barbara Unmuessig said.

"Top international companies, such as Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Saudi Aramco, BP, Gazprom and Shell have made huge profits with fossil fuels while the victims of climate change, often in the poorest regions of the world, are faced with ruin."

Report co-authors Julie-Anne Richards and Keely Boom of the Climate Justice Programme propose a levy on fossil fuel extraction.

"It could start at approximately $2 per tonne of CO2, which would raise $50bn per year initially," Richards said.

The levy would be calculated against a company's historic emissions and projected future extractions of coal, oil and gas.

Over time, it could be increased by 5% to 10% each year, the report says.

The money raised would be allocated to the world's poorest communities and to those who have experienced the greatest effects of climate change.

The foundation's report comes as Australian prime minister Tony Abbott faces criticism from the US and Europe for not including climate change on the G20 leader's agenda at November's meeting in Brisbane.

Abbott aims to repeal Labor's carbon tax in July and replace it with a taxpayer-funded "direct action" policy.

Earlier in the week, the annual Lowy Institute poll showed public concern over climate change has risen to 45% of the population, after five years of steady decline.

Comment was being sought from BHP Billiton.

