Risks of, and Responses to, the New Fossil Fuel Economy

This fact sheet describes a 2013-2014 Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) project designed to analyze the risks associated with the "new fossil fuel economy," specifically new investments in extraction and trade infrastructure. The project aims to develop tools for supply-side GHG accounting and policy responses to prevent these investments from undermining climate stabilization and sustainable development goals.

• The "new fossil fuel economy," characterized by globalized coal markets and unconventional oil and gas production, creates a risk that new infrastructure investments will lock societies into high-emission pathways. Such supply-side investments in extraction, such as coal mines or oil deposits, can create economic and political constituencies that perpetuate these pathways, as seen in Canada's exploitation of oil sands.
• Current green growth and low-emission development strategies (LEDS) in over 40 developing countries as of mid-2013 often overlook the consequences of fossil fuel production and exports, focusing instead on cleaner energy production and efficiency. There is a lack of understanding regarding the impacts of new fossil fuel supply on global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and existing climate policies have not fully addressed these implications.
• The project seeks to develop new accounting frameworks to assign responsibility for GHG emissions from a supply perspective. This is intended to complement traditional territorial and consumption-based accounting, which typically attributes combustion emissions to consuming countries and thus overlooks the role of extraction and supply.
• The initiative identifies specific high-risk areas for case studies, including the development of coal infrastructure for Asian markets in countries like Mongolia and Mozambique, and the exploitation of oil shale—which may be the most emissions-intensive fossil fuel—in locations such as Estonia, Jordan, Morocco, and the Western U.S.
• The project will examine the development of oil sands in the Orinoco basin, noting that these deposits have made Venezuela the global leader in proved oil reserves.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2013). Risks of, and Responses to, the New Fossil Fuel Economy. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-FS-2013-New-fossil-fuel-economy.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Risks of, and Responses to, the New Fossil Fuel Economy. 2013. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-FS-2013-New-fossil-fuel-economy.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Risks of, and Responses to, the New Fossil Fuel Economy |date=2013 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-FS-2013-New-fossil-fuel-economy.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2013risks, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Risks of, and Responses to, the New Fossil Fuel Economy}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2013}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-FS-2013-New-fossil-fuel-economy.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }