We already have enough extractable fossil fuels to cook the planet.
At the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, two climate organizations unveiled the Global Registry of Fossil Fuels — a public database mapping more than 50,000 oil, gas, and coal fields across 89 countries — marking the first time such supply-side data has been made freely available to the world. Where knowledge of reserves once belonged almost exclusively to corporations and private investors, it now belongs to anyone. The registry is less a record of what has been burned than a reckoning with what still waits underground, and with the choices that will determine whether it stays there.
- The United States and Russia alone hold enough untapped reserves to blow past the entire 1.5°C carbon budget — 3.5 trillion tons of emissions, more than humanity has released since industrialization began.
- For the first time, the power asymmetry between corporations and civil society is being challenged: data that once cost money and access is now free, searchable, and public.
- Climate advocates and investors are being handed a concrete tool to contest government extraction licenses and corporate expansion plans before they are approved, not after.
- The registry covers 75% of global reserves, production, and emissions — enough to make the argument, backed by numbers, that the bathtub is nearly full and the faucet must be turned off.
On a Monday timed to coincide with the United Nations General Assembly, the Global Registry of Fossil Fuels went live — a freely accessible database cataloging more than 50,000 oil, gas, and coal fields across 89 countries. The choice of moment was deliberate: world leaders were gathering in New York to discuss the planet's future, and the registry's creators wanted the data in the room.
What makes the database unusual is its focus on supply rather than demand. The International Energy Agency already tracks how much fossil fuel the world consumes. This registry asks a different question: how much is still in the ground, where is it, and what would burning it cost the climate? Built by Carbon Tracker and the Global Energy Monitor, it covers roughly 75 percent of global reserves, production, and emissions — an unprecedented level of transparency.
Mark Campanale, who founded Carbon Tracker, designed the tool with accountability in mind. When governments issue extraction licenses, he argues, those decisions should face public scrutiny. The registry gives civil society groups the facts to mount that challenge — turning the permitting process into a space where ordinary people can push back with data rather than just conviction.
The numbers are stark. Carbon Tracker's analysis found that the United States and Russia alone hold enough untapped reserves to exhaust the world's remaining 1.5°C carbon budget, releasing 3.5 trillion tons of greenhouse gases — more than all of humanity's emissions since the Industrial Revolution. Stanford climate scientist Rob Jackson described the situation as a bathtub nearly full: governments can turn down the faucet, or open the drain, but they cannot keep adding water indefinitely.
Campanale's ambitions reach beyond governments to the investment community. The world's largest fossil fuel companies are ultimately owned by shareholders and institutional investors. If those investors use this data to challenge corporate expansion and redirect capital toward clean energy, the registry could do more than document the problem — it could begin to change the economics that sustain it.
On Monday, a new tool for climate accountability went live: the Global Registry of Fossil Fuels, a public database cataloging more than 50,000 oil, gas, and coal fields across 89 countries. The timing was deliberate. The launch coincided with the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where world leaders gather to discuss the planet's future. For the first time, comprehensive data on what fossil fuels remain in the ground—not what has already been burned, but what is waiting to be extracted—became freely available to anyone with an internet connection.
The registry represents a significant shift in how climate information moves through the world. Until now, detailed knowledge about global fossil fuel reserves belonged largely to corporations, investors, and the private firms they paid for access. The International Energy Agency maintains public data on fossil fuels, but it tracks demand—how much oil, gas, and coal the world consumes. This new database does something different: it catalogs supply. It shows where the fuel is, how much of it exists, and what burning it would cost the climate. The two organizations behind the project, Carbon Tracker and the Global Energy Monitor, built the registry to cover roughly 75 percent of the world's total reserves, production, and emissions.
Mark Campanale, who founded Carbon Tracker, sees the database as a tool for accountability. He wants civil society groups—environmental organizations, climate advocates, concerned citizens—to use this data to scrutinize what their governments are doing. When a country issues a license to extract coal or oil or gas, Campanale argues, that decision should face public challenge. The permitting process, he told the Associated Press, needs to become a place where ordinary people can push back. The database gives them the facts to do it.
The numbers in the registry are sobering. Carbon Tracker's analysis of the data found that the United States and Russia alone possess enough untapped fossil fuel reserves to exhaust what scientists call the world's remaining carbon budget—the amount of greenhouse gas emissions the planet can absorb before warming reaches 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Burning those reserves would release 3.5 trillion tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. To put that in perspective: that is more carbon than humanity has emitted since the Industrial Revolution began.
Rob Jackson, a climate scientist at Stanford University, offered a useful metaphor. The global carbon budget, he said, is like a bathtub. You can run the water only so long before it overflows. Right now, governments have two choices: turn down the faucet by reducing emissions, or open the drain by removing carbon from the atmosphere. But the registry shows that the world has far more carbon than it can afford to use. The bathtub is nearly full. Adding more fuel to the fire—approving new extraction projects, expanding existing operations—risks flooding the entire bathroom.
Campanale's hope extends beyond governments to the investment community. Shareholders and institutional investors ultimately own the world's largest oil, gas, and coal companies. If they use this data to challenge corporate expansion plans, if they push companies like Shell, ExxonMobil, and Chevron to abandon new fossil fuel projects and redirect capital toward clean energy, the registry could reshape how capital flows through the energy sector. The database, in other words, is not just a record of what exists. It is meant to be a weapon in the hands of those who want to change what happens next.
Citações Notáveis
Civil society groups need to focus on what governments are planning in terms of license issuance and challenge the permitting process.— Mark Campanale, founder of Carbon Tracker
We already have enough extractable fossil fuels to cook the planet. We can't afford to use them all—or almost any of them at this point.— Rob Jackson, Stanford University climate scientist
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does it matter that this data is public now, when private versions have existed for years?
Because power follows information. Corporations and wealthy investors could always see the reserves—they could make decisions based on that knowledge. Now a climate group in Delhi or a student in Lagos can see the same facts. It levels the playing field for accountability.
But won't companies just ignore public pressure?
Maybe some will. But shareholders are different. They own these companies. If enough of them see the data and realize that approving new projects is betting against the climate—and against their own long-term returns—they can vote differently at board meetings.
The 3.5 trillion tons figure is staggering. Does that mean we're doomed?
Not doomed. It means the choice is stark. We have enough fuel in the ground to destroy the climate as we know it. The question is whether we have the will to leave it there.
What does "carbon budget" actually mean in practical terms?
It's the amount of carbon we can emit before we cross a threshold—in this case, 1.5 degrees of warming. Once we cross it, the impacts become much harder to manage. We're nearly at that threshold now.
Who benefits most from this database being public?
Environmental groups, climate scientists, and investors who want to make decisions based on climate reality rather than corporate marketing. Governments too, if they're serious about meeting their climate commitments.