To fight climate change, you need to know where greenhouse gases are emitted, says Climate Trace. You should be able to look it up on a world map.
(Image: Screenshot)
The climate protection organization Climate Trace has published a world map listing almost 80,000 individual emitters of greenhouse gases. These include the 500 largest known industrial sources of greenhouse gases from various sectors, such as power plants, ships, cement factories, steel mills, and oil and gas fields, writes Climate Trace. You can filter according to the individual industrial sectors as well as according to the greenhouse gases and the countries.
Data on several million other individual sources that cannot be displayed on the world map can also be downloaded separately. In the fight against climate change, it could tell us where “all the air pollution is coming from,” said former US Vice President Al Gore, who is involved in the project. The map was published on the occasion of the world climate conference in Sharm el Sheikh.
Important for the economy, interesting for private individuals
Those responsible for the map explain that in order to achieve the goals agreed upon in the Paris climate agreement, it is essential not only to know the emissions of countries but also those of individual sectors. The information on individual facilities such as factories that is now visible is a powerful addition. In a further step, for example, this could be used to determine which emissions are produced along entire supply chains. In addition, the data could help with investments and support disclosures related to climate protection. It should be interesting for Internet users to see what emissions are generated in their area.
The data on which the map is based comes from Earth observation satellites and other sensors written Climate Trace. They are evaluated using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, among other things. In the future, the data should also be determined for past years. In the meantime, Climate Trace is still considering how to disclose the ownership of the factories and plants, because it is not easy to decide who to attribute the emissions to direct owners, parent companies, investors, or, in the case of power plants, the buyers of the energy produced?
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