Climate change is seen as a political issue among nations. The US, responsible for about a quarter of all global warming gasses, is calling for greater CO2 reduction by developing nations. But many corporations emit more CO2 than most countries. Oil produced by Shell emits more carbon dioxide than most countries in the world including Canada, Brazil and Mexico. Royal Dutch Shell sent 43 official representatives and lobbyists to the November 2000 climate negotiations in The Hague, a delegation larger than most countries and nearly half the size of the 100 plus person US delegation.
Economic globalization advances global warming and the fossil fuel industry's bottom line.
Since the 1992 Earth Summit, the World Bank has spent 13.6 billion dollars on fossil fuels projects which will generate 37.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide. Ninety percent of these World Bank-sponsored oil, gas and coal projects will benefit transnational corporations based in the world's seven richest countries. Meanwhile less than 9 percent of this energy lending is devoted to meeting the energy needs of the world's poorest 2 billion people. The impacts of future changes in climate extremes are expected to fall disproportionately on the poor. People who are highly dependent on farming, fishing or forestry will well see their livelihoods destroyed.