The Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) is an independent research unit at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

. According to its mission statement, it "...promotes human and ecological well-being through our original research". PERI was established in 1998 by co-directors

Robert Pollin Robert Pollin (born September 29, 1950) is an American economist, and self described socialist. He is a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and founding co-director of its Political Economy Research Institute (PERI ...

and Gerald Epstein, both economists at the university. Funding for its foundation came from Pollin and his businessman father, Abe Pollin.

Toxic 100

PERI's Toxic 100 list includes one hundred

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

companies ranked by the amount of greenhouse gases,

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different typ ...

and water pollution produced and the relative toxicity of the pollutants, as determined by PERI at the

. The Greenhouse 100 Index ranks companies by 2019 direct emissions from large sources. The top three companies are Vistra Energy, Duke Energy, and Southern Company, continuing a three-year period in which these were in the top three. They each released more than 85 million metric tons of -equivalent emissions. Together these three companies released 4 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from all sources including non-energy sources. Rounding out the top 10 in the Greenhouse 100 are Berkshire Hathaway, American Electric Power, Xcel Energy, Energy Capital Partners, NextEra Energy, and Exxon Mobil, with the U.S. government ranking 6th. The Toxic 100 Air Polluters Index reports that the top 10 2019 companies in terms of total potential chronic human health risk are Boeing, LyondellBasell, Huntsman, Linde, BASF, Dow Inc., Celanese, Assa Abloy, Baker Hughes, and Eastman Chemical. The Toxic 100 Water Polluters Index ranks the pounds of toxics released into surface water or sent to water-treatment systems, adjusted for chemical toxicity. Northrop Grumman, Dow Inc., LyondellBasell, Celanese, and Canopus International top the Toxic 100 Water Index for 2019. Toxic 100 air pollution scores are calculated by the formula: ::Emissions x Toxicity x Population Exposure Emissions are measured in millions of pounds. Population exposure is based on the proximity of nearby residents, and factors such as prevailing winds and height of smokestacks. Toxicity is calculated from the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators by the Environmental Protection Agency.

References

External links

Toxic 100 Air Polluters
at the Political Economy Research Institute Toxic 100 Air Polluters in 2010
- archived at Web.Archive.org 1998 establishments in Massachusetts Educational institutions established in 1998 University of Massachusetts Amherst Political economy {{econ-org-stub