A Global Registry of Fossil Fuels

The white paper argues that current fossil fuel data is fragmented and inaccessible, hindering the global effort to phase out production. It proposes a government-led, transparent registry to set a global baseline of reserves and resources, enabling strategic planning for a just transition. The proposal outlines minimum reporting requirements—including developed reserves, other reserves, and licensed resources—and suggests potential hosting arrangements such as the UNEP or UNFCCC Secretariat.

• Current data on fossil fuel projects and reserves is not reported systematically or in a publicly accessible, comparable manner, with much of the high-quality data locked behind paywalls of private organisations.
• A Global Registry of Fossil Fuels is intended to provide a baseline of current extraction and the production pipeline to assess them against the amount of unburnable carbon consistent with IPCC warnings.
• The proposed minimum reporting requirements for governments include three categories: reserves for which extraction is already sanctioned (developed reserves), all other economically viable reserves, and licensed resources where exploration is underway.
• Developed reserves are highlighted as a critical indicator of short-term future production because they represent carbon for which significant infrastructure and capital are already 'locked in'.
• The proposal suggests a hybrid reporting approach to capture extra-territorial reserves, where countries report both the resources within their territory and those for which corporations headquartered in their territory are responsible.
• Potential hosting arrangements for the registry include the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UNFCCC Secretariat, a combination of international organisations, or a new standalone registry secretariat.
• The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative is developing a prototype registry hosted by civil society and academic institutions to serve as a model for a future government-led, UN-hosted version.

APA

Byrnes, R. (2020). A Global Registry of Fossil Fuels. Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. https://www.fossilfueltreaty.org/s/A-Global-Registry-of-Fossil-Fuels-White-Paper.pdf

Chicago

Byrnes, Rebecca. A Global Registry of Fossil Fuels. Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, 2020. https://www.fossilfueltreaty.org/s/A-Global-Registry-of-Fossil-Fuels-White-Paper.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Byrnes |first1=Rebecca |title=A Global Registry of Fossil Fuels |publisher=Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative |date=September 2020 |url=https://www.fossilfueltreaty.org/s/A-Global-Registry-of-Fossil-Fuels-White-Paper.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{byrnes2020global, author = {Byrnes, Rebecca}, title = {{A Global Registry of Fossil Fuels}}, institution = {Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://www.fossilfueltreaty.org/s/A-Global-Registry-of-Fossil-Fuels-White-Paper.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }