Underground fossil fuels are a ticking time bomb  

How many tons of emissions will be produced?

The United Nations has announced the results of a new study , according to which if we burn all the fossil fuel reserves estimated to exist underground, we will release 3.5 trillion tons of greenhouse gases. So far, it is estimated that the amount that the atmosphere can handle before we exceed the increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius set by the Paris Agreement, is 360 billion tons of carbon dioxide, or nine years at current emissions.

In order to determine the stock of fossil fuels available to each country, the Global Registry of Fossil Fuels has been established , recording the oil, natural gas and lignite available to the states.

So far, more than 50,000 deposits have been identified in 89 countries. Some have enough reserves to miss the global target of 1.5 degrees Celsius, on their own. The deposits of the USA alone contain 520 billion tons of CO2 equivalent, while together with China, Russia and Australia, the reserves of these countries are enough to exceed by seven times the emissions corresponding to an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

We have little time to deal with the rest of the coal. If we do not measure what is produced, it is extremely difficult to control production.

Of the 50,000 deposits, the richest are in Saudi Arabia which produces 525 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year. The 12 most polluting generating stations are located in the Gulf of Russia.

All this shows that this is a global challenge and many countries that are big producers but are not as democratic as the USA for example, need this transparency. Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that this record will magically solve the problem as a global fossil fuel control regime. But it will shed light on where their production takes place, so that investors and citizens can hold their governments accountable.