Brainfood: Stat of the Month - Britain's Big Polluters
A small group of top British companies - BP, Shell, Corus, BHP Billiton and Scottish Power-account for a shameful 1% of total world carbon emissions.
In 2003/04, this corporate quintet were responsible for more than 60% of all the emissions of the FTSE-100 and nearly half the UK's rising total.
And that's before anyone put petrol into their SUV. FTSE performance depends on carbon-reliant industries, an issue that its firms must soon face.
Heavy industry not only produces emissions, but is intrinsically tied to other carbon-generators - such as electricity, the cost of which will escalate as measures come in to curb pollution. The EU's Emissions Trading Scheme sets a cap on emissions and allows firms to trade capacity, thus putting a price on carbon. The effect on the FTSE-100 could be great.
