A new investigation published Wednesday reveals that some of the largest fossil fuel corporations in the world — from Exxon in the U.S. to Gazprom in Russia to Aramco in Saudi Arabia — are planning or currently operating nearly 200 “carbon bombs,” massive oil and gas projects that could unleash 646 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions and doom efforts to rein in planetary warming.
Research shared exclusively with The Guardian ahead of its formal publication identifies at least 195 “carbon bombs” that are either in the process of being built or already in place across the globe as scientists warn that fossil fuel use must be quickly phased out to prevent catastrophic climate outcomes.
Led by Kjell Kühne from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, the research specifically defines carbon bombs as “projects capable of pumping at least 1 billion tonnes of CO2 emission.