Comparing with the Potential Emissions from Fossil Fuel Reserves and Resources

This chapter compares the global budget for CO2 energy emissions to stay within the 2 degree limit with the potential emissions embedded into the fossil fuel reserves and resources, which is important because it gives an indication of the share of reserves and resources that we can use without carbon capture and sequestration, but with a consideration of what resources would have to be left stranded. First, we have to distinguish between two different types of categories of fossil fuel amounts, which are the proven reserves of fossil fuels that are already economically viable under the current economic and technological conditions, and the resources that are the amount in addition to those proven reserves that would only become accessible if circumstances changed. We need a single metric to compare the potential emissions for all types of fossil fuels. The total potential of the CO2 that is embedded in proven reserves and resources is as high as 57 gigaton of CO2, much higher than the global CO2 energy budget, so we will have to leave some resources stranded, even if CCS technology becomes possible. Coal will most likely have to be stranded in the highest proportion, as well as higher cost oil and gas. Stranding fossil bel assets will have very high distributional consequences because not all countries are equal exporters and importers of fossil fuels, so economic impacts will vary. This video is part of the module The 2-Degree Carbon Budget.

This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.