Fossil fuel reserves contain 3.5 trillion tons of CO2

The world's fossil fuel reserves contain the equivalent of 3.5 trillion tonnes of greenhouse gases, which would be released if used and would undermine international climate goals, according to an unprecedented inventory released on Monday.

This phenomenal amount corresponds to what would be released into the atmosphere if the reserves of oil, gas and coal were fully produced and used, according to this global register created by Carbon Tracker and Global Energy Monitor.

This equates to “

” and “

”, say the authors.

This notion of carbon “

” refers to the quantity of CO2 that can be emitted for a given result, in this case the most ambitious objective of the Paris climate agreement.

Warming since the industrial era, which has been fueled by fossil fuels, has already reached 1.1°C, leading to a series of disasters.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) had suggested last year to give up any new oil or gas project, to accompany a rapid drop in demand and to keep global warming under control.

A register of 50,000 sites worldwide

The register - which contains data on more than 50,000 sites in 89 countries - aims to provide political leaders and civil society with the data needed to manage the gradual exit from these fossil fuels.

In particular, it shows that the United States and Russia each have enough fossil fuel reserves to blow up the entire global carbon budget, even if all other countries immediately ceased production.

It also identifies the most powerful source of emissions in the world: the Ghawar oil field in Saudi Arabia.

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“

”, underlined Simon Kofe, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tuvalu, one of the Pacific archipelagos threatened by rising waters and global warming.

“

,” he hopes, in a statement accompanying the release of the document.