A new tool, the Carbon Impacts Tracer, has been created by scientists to assess the potential harm of individual coal, gas, or oil projects on both people and the environment, aiming to increase accountability for fossil fuel companies and approving governments.
It works by linking a project’s carbon dioxide emissions to additional global warming, then estimates the consequences, from melting glaciers to coral reef damage.
The tool challenges the argument that one new fossil fuel project makes only a tiny contribution to global emissions. Even a small increase in global temperature can have measurable consequences when it affects millions of people and key areas of the planet.
The Carbon Impacts Tracer uses scientific research to calculate emissions, estimate the warming, and estimate the damage. It can cover the climate impact for heat, heat-related deaths, crop loss, melting glaciers, and coral bleaching.
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Six experts from Australia and the UK used the tool to release research relating to emissions from Western Australia’s Scarborough gas project. The project will expose an additional 516,000 people worldwide to unprecedented heat and contribute to 484 additional heat-related deaths in Europe by 2100.
The tool can provide evidence for climate-related legal cases, although it does not determine legal responsibility. Communities, governments, insurers, and businesses could use the tool to understand the consequences of fossil fuel projects better.
The Scarborough gas project will also cause the loss of millions more coral colonies during each future mass bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef.
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