Media Resources
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Key Quotes
Claude Turmes - Minister of Energy & Minister of Regional Planning on behalf of the Luxembourg delegation said: “The UNEP Production Gap Report published last month emphasised how verifiable and comparable information on fossil fuel production is essential to addressing this production gap. I believe that the global registry of fossil fuels being developed by the Carbon Tracker Initiative and Global Energy Monitor can play a key role in strengthening transparency and government accountability in this area”.
Per Bolund, Minister for Environment and Climate, Government of Sweden, said: “Addressing the climate crisis is a matter of immediate urgency. It is at this point abundantly clear that a global phase-out of fossil fuels is necessary to achieve the Paris Agreement’s 1,5-degree target. To enable policymakers at all levels to take appropriate measures, we must have a solid base of reliable information readily available. I appreciate and welcome efforts to improve our collective knowledge on global fossil fuel resources, as a stepping stone for action.”
Michael Lazarus, Co-ordinating Lead Author, Production Gap Report, Stockholm Environment Institute, said: "Verifiable and comparable information on fossil fuel production and support — from both governments and companies — is essential to addressing the production gap. I welcome the Global Registry of Fossil Fuels as an important step in shedding greater light on plans for fossil fuel extraction.”
Rob Schuwerk, Executive Director, Carbon Tracker Initiative (North America), said: “The starting point for the registry is an open, transparent, granular assessment of fossil fuel stocks and flows, but ultimately our aim is to provide data that governments, the financial sector and civil society can download and use to make informed decisions about the managed decline of fossil fuel combustion. We expect the registry to grow in sophistication on pace with user needs.”
Carole Dieschbourg, Minister for the Environment, Government of Luxembourg, said: “Much more needs to be done on linking fossil fuel production with national climate plans. I believe that the civil society global registry of fossil fuels now under development can make a major contribution towards that goal, especially if it is adopted by governments.”
Barbara Pompili, Minister for Ecological Transition, Government of France said: “France believes that, to keep 1.5 degrees within reach, the international community needs collectively to accelerate a managed phase-out of fossil fuel production. I therefore commend the work that Carbon Tracker Initiative and Global Energy Monitor are undertaking on the development of an independently managed global registry of fossil fuels - a timely idea that was floated in the recent UNEP Production Gap Report.”
Mark Campanale, Founder of the Carbon Tracker Initiative, said: “The Global Registry of Fossil Fuels will drive greater transparency about governments’ and companies’ plans for oil, gas and coal in the future, and - crucially - help to make governments more accountable for their plans, thus enabling all users of the Registry to link fossil fuel production with national climate policies. We see one of the key user groups for the Registry being the finance sector: it will enable investors much more effectively to assess stranded asset risk.”
Marlene Moses - Chair of the Nauru Rehabilitation Corporation, said: "The current fossil fuel economy imposes enormous costs on society, and nowhere is this more apparent than in small islands. Fossil fuel use threatens the long-term viability and survival of our communities and the costs of imported fuels drain funds that could be better used to improve infrastructure and services for our people. We urgently need to begin a managed phased-out of fossil fuel production as part of a just transition to a more fair and equitable economy powered by renewables. The global registry of fossil fuels will be an essential tool in this endeavour."
Ted Nace, Executive Director of Global Energy Monitor, said: “The development of this data set is the first step in a virtuous circle of transparency. The more the inventory of carbon in the ground advances, the more useful it will become and the greater the pressure on countries and companies for full transparency. In the end, carbon in the ground profoundly affects all of humanity, which means that all of humanity will benefit from understanding its distribution, its ownership, its developmental status, and its future trajectory.”
As recognition of the need to measure and regulate production of oil, gas and coal grows, with draft mention in the Glasgow text, Carbon Tracker and Global Energy Monitor today make public a prototype of the first ever Global Registry of Fossil Fuels to foster transparency on fossil fuel production and make governments more accountable.
GLASGOW, November 11 – Carbon Tracker and Global Energy Monitor (GEM) have built a prototype of the first-ever open-source, independent and accessible database of fossil fuels. The Global Registry of Fossil Fuels will be a concrete policy tool to measure what is being dug out of the ground, the associated emissions, and how those relate to a 1.5°C compatible pathway.
It will enable policymakers and experts around the world to assess whether countries are on track to meet their climate commitments and provide data and analytics tools for identifying a means of winding down fossil fuel production.
The 2021 UNEP Production Gap Report finds that governments plan to produce more than twice the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than is consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C. Oil, gas and coal have contributed over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution.
Addressing the oversupply of fossil fuels is therefore integral to tackling climate change. The first step towards managing fossil fuel production is to measure it. However, there is currently no comprehensive, transparent, public source of data on estimated fossil fuel reserves and production.
Oftentimes, this information is not in the public domain, and much of the data that does exist is held confidentially by governments or behind paywalls, or, in the case of some reservoirs, may not exist in granular detail or remains an uncertain estimate. There are significant uncertainties even as to the amount of GHG emissions associated with any given amount of future production.
On Thursday 11 November, at 3.45pm GMT, Carbon Tracker and Global Energy Monitor, hosted by the delegation of Denmark, will present a prototype version of the Global Registry of Fossil Fuels to attendant and online media, and hereby invite your presence at the briefing to be held at COP26 in Room PC1 – Giants Causeway – Area H.
Barbara Pompili, Minister for Ecological Transition, Government of France said: “France believes that, to keep 1.5 degrees within reach, the international community needs collectively to accelerate a managed phase-out of fossil fuel production. I therefore commend the work that Carbon Tracker Initiative and Global Energy Monitor are undertaking on the development of an independently managed global registry of fossil fuels – a timely idea that was floated in the recent UNEP Production Gap Report.”
Mark Campanale, Founder of the Carbon Tracker Initiative, said: “The Global Registry of Fossil Fuels will drive greater transparency about governments’ and companies’ plans for oil, gas and coal in the future, and – crucially – help to make governments more accountable for their plans, thus enabling all users of the Registry to link fossil fuel production with national climate policies. We see one of the key user groups for the Registry being the finance sector: it will enable investors much more effectively to assess stranded asset risk.”
Marlene Moses – Chair of the Nauru Rehabilitation Corporation, said: “The current fossil fuel economy imposes enormous costs on society, and nowhere is this more apparent than in small islands. Fossil fuel use threatens the long-term viability and survival of our communities and the costs of imported fuels drain funds that could be better used to improve infrastructure and services for our people. We urgently need to begin a managed phased-out of fossil fuel production as part of a just transition to a more fair and equitable economy powered by renewables. The global registry of fossil fuels will be an essential tool in this endeavour.”
Ted Nace, Executive Director of Global Energy Monitor, said: “The development of this data set is the first step in a virtuous circle of transparency. The more the inventory of carbon in the ground advances, the more useful it will become and the greater the pressure on countries and companies for full transparency. In the end, carbon in the ground profoundly affects all of humanity, which means that all of humanity will benefit from understanding its distribution, its ownership, its developmental status, and its future trajectory.”
Over the next few months we’ll be refining and finalising the registry for a full open access public launch. We invite interested stakeholders to reach out to us for access to the registry, to record interest in attending an upcoming workshop and to provide feedback.
Click here to watch live the press conference at 3:45PM today.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
For more information about the briefing or for interview requests – please contact:
Joel Benjamin jbenjamin@carbontracker.org +44 7429 637423
Stefano Ambrogi sambrogi@carbontracker.org +44 7557 916940
For technical questions on the registry & its applications, please email: Ted Nace, ted.nace@globalenergymonitor.org or Rob Schuwerk, rschuwerk@carbontracker.org
About Carbon Tracker – The Carbon Tracker Initiative is a not-for-profit financial think tank that seeks to promote a climate-secure global energy market by aligning capital markets with climate reality. Our research to date on the carbon bubble, unburnable carbon and stranded assets has begun a new debate on how to align the financial system with the energy transition to a low carbon future. https://carbontracker.org/
