Climate TRACE (Tracking Real-Time Atmospheric Carbon Emissions) is an independent group which monitors and publishes
greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...
. It launched in 2021 before
COP26, and improves
monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of both
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...
and
methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...
.
The group monitors sources such as
coal mines and
power station smokestacks worldwide,
with satellite data (but not their own satellites) and
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
.
''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine named it as one of the hundred best inventions of 2020. Their emissions map is the largest global inventory and interactive map of
greenhouse gas emission sources. According to
Kelly Sims Gallagher it could influence the
politics of climate change
The politics of climate change results from different perspectives on how to respond to climate change. Global warming is driven largely by the Greenhouse gas emissions, emissions of greenhouse gases due to human economic activity, especially t ...
by reducing MRV disputes, and lead to more ambitious
climate pledges.
Developed countries
A developed country, or advanced country, is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy, and advanced technological infrastructure relative to other less industrialized nations. Most commonly, the criteria for eval ...
' annual reports to the
UNFCCC are submitted over a year after the end of the monitored year.
Developing countries
A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...
in the
Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was ...
will submit every two years. Some large emitters, such as
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
which has not ratified the agreement, have not submitted a
greenhouse gas inventory in the 2020s.
New data is released monthly 2 months after the emissions.
Methods
Power plant emissions are tracked by training software with
supervised learning
In machine learning, supervised learning (SL) is a paradigm where a Statistical model, model is trained using input objects (e.g. a vector of predictor variables) and desired output values (also known as a ''supervisory signal''), which are often ...
to combine
satellite imagery
Satellite images (also Earth observation imagery, spaceborne photography, or simply satellite photo) are images of Earth collected by imaging satellites operated by governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell im ...
with other
open data
Open data are data that are openly accessible, exploitable, editable and shareable by anyone for any purpose. Open data are generally licensed under an open license.
The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "open(-so ...
, such as
government datasets,
OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap (abbreviated OSM) is a free, Open Database License, open geographic database, map database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveying, surveys, trace from Ae ...
, and
company reports. Similarly large ships will be tracked to better understand
emissions from international shipping.
Members
, the coalition consists of:
* Nonprofits: CarbonPlan, Earthrise Alliance,
Global Energy Monitor, Hudson Carbon, OceanMind,
Rocky Mountain Institute, TransitionZero, and WattTime
* Companies: Blue Sky Analytics and Hypervine
* Former
U.S. Vice President Al Gore
See also
*
Glossary of climate change
References
External links
* {{official website, climatetrace.org
Greenhouse gas inventories
Cartography
Earth observation projects