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The report is released by UK non-for-profit think tank InfluenceMap, which focuses on climate risks and is known for its work tracking the lobbying of fossil fuel emitters.

The report traces emissions as far back as the Industrial Revolution, when humans began burning fossil fuels and emitting increasing amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

Overall, China's national coal production has been the biggest single source of pollution, accounting for 14 per cent of global historical emissions, with the former Soviet Union coming in second.

The database was cited in a recent case in which a Belgian farmer was arguing that an oil and gas company was partly responsible for damage to his farm from extreme weather.

"We're also seeing [the data] in academic research, quantifying the contribution that the emissions by these producers have made to, for example, sea level rise to forest fire risk, and so on.

"It's certainly an interesting issue to analyse further, what's causing that, whether it's investor pressure that has managed to somewhat drive down the production of coal among investor-owned companies," Mr Van Acker told the ABC.

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