[imiric]

One hundred companies are responsible for 71% of global greenhouse gas emissions.[1]

Rather than trying to change the habits of everyone on earth, a more realistic goal would be to change a fraction of these corporate polluters.

Efforts to place the responsibility of climate change on individuals is mostly corporate propaganda. Not that altering our habits wouldn't be an improvement, but it's not addressing the main cause of the problem.

[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10...

[adhesive_wombat]

That's a measure of consolidation in the energy industry (a lot) and a measure of the proportion of anthropogenic carbon that comes from fossil fuels (also a lot, more than 71%, because there are more than 100 such companies). It wouldn't matter if that 71% of carbon was emitted by a million companies, or by one hyper-giant mega-corporation. Those fossil fuels were getting dug up and burned regardless of the logo on the side of the drilling rig.

Furthermore, as long as fossil fuels exist as a mainstream energy sources, fossil fuel companies, whether a great many small ones, or a few huge ones, will represent a very large proportion of the emissions. You can't change them, that's just literally what they are. You have to either stop them (e.g. make fossil fuel extraction illegal) or change everyone else to remove the market (e.g. encourage use of sustainables, including nuclear, everywhere).

[cdelsolar]

Why do you think companies exist? For customers…

[bigiain]

That’s a funny way to spell “shareholders”.

If you start something to benefit other people, you run a charity or a non profit.

Companies are started and run by people who want to make money for themselves and their investors. You might be using “benefitting our customers” as a tool in your profit-making, but it’s not why you get out of bed every morning (whether you admit it to yourself or not).

[ratsforhorses]

Who are their customers? Other companies... honestly when you take a bit of perspective, the need for companies to make a profit is a huge cause of the overuse of resources... indeed the lack of a social net in the US is probably the cause of it huge part in the world's pollution...as in China the ability to work less or not at all isn't encouraged by the system in place...and please don't get me started on if you don't work who's producing the (junk) food... in WW2 the British poor actually eat better thanks to rationing... maybe less meat, ice cream, bread would be good for the world and the more developed countries...