A handful of corporations influence the future of the world

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A small handful of global corporations hold the future of the world in their hands, according to international and Aussie researchers. Transnational corporations in agriculture, forestry, seafood, cement, minerals and fossil energy have huge impacts on the environment; for example, just 10 per cent of the world's corporations generate 80 per cent of all profits globally, and around 70 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to just 100 coal, oil and gas companies worldwide. According to researchers, big corporations need to start taking responsibility for these huge impacts, and if this is combined with effective public policies and improved government regulations, we could speed up our quest to save the planet.

Journal/conference: Nature Ecology & Evolution

Link to research (DOI): 10.1038/s41559-019-0978-z

Organisation/s: CSIRO

Funder: Support is gratefully acknowledged from The Beijer Foundation, The Erling-Persson Family Foundation, The Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, The Walton Family Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Mistra: The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research.

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