Environmentalists from the London School of Economics and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development suggest that some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies have failed to establish science-based climate targets in a bid to reduce their carbon footprints.

Despite the urging of consumers and government to reduce their carbon footprints via reducing the sale of carbon-based products such as gasoline for automobiles, the majority of oil and gas giants, according to the researchers, appear to be ignoring such pleas.

Schematic of how assessed product is calculated according to different categories of energy products and their relationship with the value chain. Source: DOI: 10.1126/science.abh0687

To make this determination, the environmentalists looked at the available data from 52 of the largest oil and gas companies, searching for evidence of their respective responses to global warming issues.

According to the team, of the 52 companies examined, just two — Occidental Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell — have made public their intentions to help reduce emissions to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Accord. Occidental Petroleum reportedly aims to cut its emissions to meet the 1.5° C benchmark while Royal Dutch Shell announced plans to achieve the 2° C limit.

The study, “How ambitious are oil and gas companies' climate goals?”, appears in the journal Science.