My friend Ken pointed out an interesting resource.
https://carbonmajors.org/briefing/The-Carbon-Majors-Database-2023-Update-31397 
Carbon Majors does careful work to track historic carbon pollution.
Here is my review of this resource.

This is a solid effort to trace carbon pollution back to the companies most responsible. I think this data will be helpful for legal actions like those supported by SueBigOil.com. It’s a detailed and fascinating report.

If pollution can be linked to specific companies, then responsibility can be assigned. And if responsibility leads to legal consequences, some of the damage could be recovered. We probably won’t see that happen with state-owned companies like Russia’s Gazprom. But that doesn’t mean private companies get a free pass.

Emissions are still rising, not falling, which means much of the pollution is recent and tied to companies that still exist—not long-gone ones like old whale oil companies. These companies have profited by passing pollution costs onto the public (like health issues and abandoned wells). That means they’ve grown richer while avoiding responsibility.

Just based on the well-known names in the Carbon Majors report—Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, TotalEnergies, and BP—it seems to be targeting the right players. That lines up with common sense.

The report makes an important distinction between cumulative and current emissions. Cumulative emissions highlight past damage and who caused it. Current emissions show who we need to pressure to change now.

For example, if someone owns stocks in these companies, they could divest to reduce support. If they work for them or serve them as clients, they might choose to stop—like a friend of mine who changed jobs for ethical reasons.

This also opens the door to better advocacy. We can write to insurance companies, pension funds, and others to push back on supporting polluters.

I’m glad to see cement included in the data—it contributes to emissions too. But compared to oil, gas, and coal, cement is a smaller part of the problem. Cement also lasts for years, while fossil fuels are burned and replaced quickly. So while cement matters, oil, gas, and coal are clearly the main problem.

I know I’m replying to you, Ken, but others might read this—so sorry if I’m overexplaining. Just to clarify: natural gas is not “clean.” It’s methane. And if it leaks before being burned (which happens 4–12% of the time), it’s up to 80 times more harmful than CO₂.

Estimates say climate change will cost about $38 trillion by 2050. If a company like Shell is responsible for 1.96% of that, that’s around $744 billion. And that’s just damages—not counting adaptation costs.

Maybe companies like Shell will be forced to pay into future damage funds. Or maybe just the threat of that will scare off investors and insurers, slowing or even shrinking the industry.

Oil and gas are this profitable only because they’ve avoided paying for the harm they cause—like skipping out on the bill at a restaurant. Work like this helps expose what they’re really doing to us.