First public global database of fossil fuels launches

Categories: Others

First public globaldatabase of fossil fuels launches

Afirst-of-its-kind database for tracking the world’s fossil fuel production,reserves and emissions launches on Monday to coincide with climate talks takingplace at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

TheGlobal Registry of Fossil Fuels includes data from over 50,000 oil, gas and coal fields in89 countries. That covers 75% of global reserves, production and emissions, andis available for public use, a first for a collection of this size.

Until nowthere has been private data available for purchase, and analysis of the world’sfossil fuel usage and reserves. The International Energy Agency alsomaintains public data on oil, gas and coal, but it focuses on the demand forthose fossil fuels, whereas this new database looks at what is yet to beburned.

Corporations,investors and scientists already have some level of access to private data onfossil fuels. Mark Campanale, founder of Carbon Tracker, said he hopes theregistry will empower groups to hold governments accountable, for example, whenthey issue licenses for fossil fuel extraction.

“Civilsociety groups have got to get more of a focus on what governments are planningto do in terms of license issuance, both for coal and oil and gas, and actuallybegin to challenge this permitting process,” Campanale told The Associated Press.

The releaseof the database and an accompanying analysis of the collected data coincidewith two critical sets of climate talks at the international level — the U.N.General Assembly in New York beginning on September 13, and COP27 in Sharm ElSheikh, Egypt, in November. Data like what’s being released in the registrycould arm environmental and climate groups to pressure national leaders toagree to stronger policies that result in less carbon emissions.

The databaseshows that we have much more carbon than we need as a global community,Campanale said, and more than enough to overflow the bathtub and flood thebathroom in Jackson’s analogy. So investors and shareholders should be holdingdecision makers at the world’s largest oil, gas and coal companies accountablewhen they approve new investments in fossil fuel extraction, he said.

Campanalesaid the hope is the investment community, “who ultimately own these corporations,”will use the data to begin to challenge the investment plans of companies stillplanning to expand oil, gas and coal projects.“Companies like Shell and Exxon,Chevron and their shareholders can use the analysis to to really begin to tryand push the companies to move in a completely different direction.”