Carbon Tracker Methodology

In a series of reports since 2011, Carbon Tracker has explored the financial implications of the global transition to a low carbon economy for companies in the oil and gas sector, and thus by extension the risks posed to their investors and broader stakeholders.

Core to this analysis has been our least-cost modelling of global oil and gas supply which has underpinned many of our publications, including our Two Degrees of Separation and Petrostates series, addressing Upstream oil and gas. The purpose of this document is to describe the methodology behind the least-cost modelling.

The overall aim of our modelling is to assess whether volumes supplied from individual oil and gas assets are compatible with oil and gas demand from a given energy transition or climate scenario. Once established, the results can be aggregated to determine the implications for different stakeholders, forming the basis of many Carbon Tracker’s reports on investment risk and assessment of climate alignment, at the asset, company and country level.