Market debut for world’s biggest polluter must be a rallying cry for climate action
Aramco’s flotation may have been scaled down, but it shows that capitalism and carbon still go hand in glove
In less than a week the most valuable company in history will make its debut on a publicly traded market. Saudi Aramco is both the most profitable and the most polluting company of all time. Its looming $1.7tn (£1.3tn) market listing is also evidence of the gaping chasm between Europe’s growing climate movement and the carbon addiction the rest of the world just cannot kick.
A year that has seen the most determined green investor activism, fossil fuel divestments and climbing climate targets will end with the largest single fossil-fuel binge in investment history.