This infographic is from our special issue The Energy Atlas, on newsstands since August 10. It makes it possible to locate the 425 “carbon bombs”, these fossil fuel extraction projects, in operation or under construction, whose CO emissions2 cumulated risks causing the global carbon budget to explode, and consequently jeopardizing the Paris agreement on the fight against climate change.
This representation is based on the study published in Energy Policy and released online in May, for which a team of researchers identified 195 oil and gas projects and 230 coal mines, operational or under construction, in 48 countries. The projects in China, the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia alone have the potential to inject more than 100 gigatonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere over the expected duration of their operation.
While fossil fuels are responsible for 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions, “defusing ‘carbon bombs’ should be a priority in climate change mitigation policy”, hammer the authors of the study.