The Global Registry of Fossil Fuels is a new inventory that combines data from oil, gas, and coal fields in 89 countries, capturing nearly seventy-five per cent of global production. Climate campaigners now have the world’s first Registry of fossil fuel reserves, production and emissions. Launched by Carbon Tracker and the Global Energy Monitor, this Registry is the first global transparent registry using data from over 50,000 oil, gas, and coal fields.
The registry brings to the fingertips of digital government, and the digital citizen, a searchable database that is cross-referenced. The Registry also makes previously incongruent, or hard-to-access data, publicly available to investors seeking to better understand which assets could be at risk of being “stranded”. Responsible Investment at Nordea Asset Management is hopeful that the Registry would help investors to better comprehend which assets are at risk of being uneconomic in the low energy transition. Now it is much easier to make projections of future emissions and to identify and prioritize any company at risk of harbouring assets that are most likely to become marooned.
The transparency of the dataset takes the analysis down to specific projects using information from NGOs, private companies, state-owned companies, on-the-ground contacts, and bureaucracies. From the database, users can glean insights into the most potent sources of emissions by tonnage, and can catalogue the most polluting sites. The release of the database and the accompanying analyses of the data compiled, coincides with the climate talks at the UN General Assembly in NY which commenced on September 13, and the COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt this November.
Carbon Tracker and the Global Energy Monitor have examined the amount of fossil fuels, untapped and underground, to exhaust the earth’s remaining carbon budget, a shibboleth used to signify the remaining carbon the world can afford to emit before a specific threshold is crossed. These reserves have the potential to generate 3.5 trillion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions which exceeds all of the emissions produced since the industrial revolution.
Stanford University climatologists associated with the database adjure that we are running out of time. Members of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty who helped to build the Registry, hope that the database will enable investors to consider the emerging horizon of the future. The Registry now empowers world leaders to target and refine thematic engagement and the stewardship of the planet. Climate change will create a wide array of risks. To avert the most hazardous and irreversible effects of climate change, rapid declines in CO2 emissions will be required to reach a 1.5-degree Celsius pathway.
While the auto industry transitions to zero-emission Electric Vehicles, Freight truck manufacturers are investing in Hydrogen Fuel Cells to haul freight over long distances. Batteries are too heavy to make Electric Trucks feasible. Hydrogen fuel cells run hydrogen through a catalyst that produces heat and energy to power a small battery.
The strategy of Loop energy is to offer the S1200 Hydrogen Fuel System to startup truck manufacturers and hydrogen powertrains. Hydrogen trains are a promising way to decarbonize the rail sector and replace climate-warming diesel locomotives. The trains combine hydrogen on board with oxygen present in the ambient air, using a fuel cell located in the roof. This generates the electricity needed to power the train.
It is foreseeable that by 2035, around 15 to 20 per cent of the regional European market could run on hydrogen. Hydrogen trains are attractive on short regional lines, where the cost of a transition to electric outstrips the profitability of the route. In August 2022, Germany celebrated the world premiere of a zero-emissions railway line. A fleet of 14 trains powered entirely by hydrogen, stands as a global signal for green train transport. Provided by the French industrial giant Alstom to the German state of Lower Saxony, the hydrogen trains have replaced diesel locomotives on the 100km (60 miles) of track connecting the Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervoerde and, Buxtehude.
The high-tech trains, called Coradia iLint, are powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, which produces electrical power for traction. This zero-emission train produces low levels of noise. The only emissions are vapour and condensed water. All the heat created is used to power the air conditioning systems. The iLint combines different innovative elements: clean energy, flexible battery storage, and Smart Management of Traction Power and available energy.
This “zero emission” mode of transport, which cost €93M would prevent 4,400 tonnes of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere annually. Using a Pan-European diesel cost of $1.01 per litre and $10 per Kg of hydrogen, Loop Energy calculates that a truck using its innovative S1200 Hydrogen Fuel System can travel 111 miles on $100 worth of fuel, as against 109 miles for an equivalent diesel lorry.
The cost of fuel amounts to roughly fifty per cent of the total cost of ownership for heavy-duty hydrogen vehicles. Loop Energy believes that its new fuel system can deliver better fuel economy than a diesel engine at current price levels. Advancement in fuel efficiency is a significant factor in creating a tipping point for the commercial transition from diesel to clean fuels.
