NGOs note 28 new ‘carbon bomb’ projects since 2021

Twenty-eight new “carbon bomb” projects have launched across the globe over the past five years, according to a report issued by NGOs.

Despite global efforts to phase out the use of fossil fuels, known to have catastrophic climate effects, the report, published on Monday by a quartet of environmental nonprofits, details that dozens of new fossil fuel extraction projects that will pump out enormous emissions have been started since 2021.

Carbon bombs were defined in a 2022 research article as oil, gas or coal facilities capable of generating more than a billion tonnes of CO2 over their lifetime.

At that time, the NGOs Lingo, Data for Good, Reclaim Finance, and Eclaircies counted 425 such projects worldwide.

The report said some 365 projects are still producing more than one billion tonnes each, with the fall from the 2021 total due to operations that have either cut their output or been re-evaluated.

That is despite the International Energy Agency having said in 2021 that launching new oil and gas projects was incompatible with reaching climate targets set out in the Paris Agreement.

The landmark agreement reached in 2015 included the aim of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with the pre-industrial era.

Two years later, at COP28, countries around the world agreed to begin a phase-out of fossil fuels.