Methodology

Sources

CarbonBombs.org was created by a consortium of 4 non-profit organizations - Data4Good, Eclaircies, Reclaim Finance and LINGO - that analyze and transform data into accessible tools to raise awareness of the key levers for halting climate change.

Our approach is based on three pillars:

  • Open source: you can download the dataset here.
  • Collaborative: Reach out to contribute or suggest improvements.
  • Dynamic: Our database is regularly updated to incorporate new insights and to enhance its accuracy.

CarbonBombs.org creates connections between five existing databases:

  • Initial carbon bombs database: Kuhne et al. (2022) published a public database identifying the 425 largest fossil fuel extraction projects globally, defined as those with more than 1 gigaton (Gt) potential CO₂ emissions. This database provides project names, locations and status, based on a 2020 version of the commercial database Rystad. The paper also calculates their potential emissions, which exceed the global 1.5°C carbon budget (see "Carbon Bombs" - Mapping key fossil fuel projects, Kühne and co-authors, 2022 , Energy Policy).
  • For oil and gas projects and oil and gas companies: Reclaim Finance identified new oil and gas extraction projects and associated emissions using fields’ production profile information at project level on Rystad Energy database, and emission factors from the King metrics.
  • For coal projects and coal companies: Global Energy Monitor (GEM) tracks oil extraction fields, fossil gas, and coal mines, offering open-source information supporting the clean energy movement. GEM's databases link these projects with the companies owning or operating them:
  • Global Coal Mine Tracker, GEM, May 2025 release, for more details consult the methodology.
  • For Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Export terminals: Global Oil and Gas Exit List (GOGEL) by Urgewald, March 2025 update, informs on LNG expansion plans. The midstream segment of GOGEL uses company and government sources as well as information from GEM to identify and attribute ownership to expansion projects. For more details, consult the GOGEL methodology.
  • For financial data: The Banking on Climate Chaos database 2025 report analyzes how the world's 65 largest banks finance fossil fuel companies. It covers lending as well as bond and equity underwriting. The assessment spans from January 2021, to December 2024, using data primarily from Bloomberg Finance L.P., with additional data from the IJGlobal database, publicly available information as well as additional research provided by Profundo. Each transaction is adjusted based on the particular company’s involvement in the fossil fuel sector. For each company in the dataset, a segment adjuster was calculated or estimated. for more details consult the methodology.

3 types of projects

Carbon bombs projects

Carbon bombs are fossil fuel extraction projects projected to emit over 1 GtCO₂ over their remaining lifetime, as the definition of an academic paper by Kühne et al. published in 2022. 425 carbon bombs were identified in this paper. To actualise our analysis, we looked at how those 425 carbon bombs evolved, and if new projects appeared. We reached a total of 601 carbon bombs - 176 new carbon bombs identified.

• Oil and Gas

We kept in our analysis the 195 initial oil and gas carbon bombs identified in the academic paper and identified 31 new projects with more than 1 Gt of emissions over their remaining lifetime. Carbon bombs' remaining emissions are calculated using projects' resources from Rystad Energy and King metrics emission factors.

• Coal

We kept in our analysis the 230 initial coal carbon bombs identified in the academic paper and identified 145 new projects with more that 1Gt of emissions over their remaining lifetime.

The increase of coal carbon bombs is mainly due to an increase of coverage of GEM database in China.

New extraction projects

• Oil and Gas

Extraction projects approved after 2021, with a start date by 2050, that are expected to generate cumulative emissions exceeding 5 million tons of CO₂ over their lifetime.

When projects are both a carbon bomb and a new extraction project, the project is displayed as a carbon bomb.

• Coal

Extraction projects with a start date between 2021 and 2050 that are expected to generate cumulative emissions exceeding 5 million tons of CO₂.

LNG export terminals

LNG export terminal projects that are, as of March 2025, still under construction or proposed.

Project statuses

Planned:

  • for coal projects: Includes projects categorized in GEM as "not started," "in development," "proposed," or "discovered" projects.
  • for oil and gas projects: Includes projects that only have resources from under development or discoveries assets in Rystad.

Operating:

  • for coal projects: encompasses projects categorized as "operating" or "shelved" in the GEM database.
  • for oil and gas projects: Includes projects that only have resources from producing assets in Rystad.

Operating and expanding:

  • only available for oil and gas projects: Include projects that have resources both from producing assets and from under development or discoveries assets.

Stopped:

  • for coal projects: includes projects considered "cancelled," "mothballed," and "shelved" according to GEM data, as well as those for which there is official information about their halt.
  • for oil and gas projects: includes those for which there is official information about their halt.

Carbon budget

Emissions are compared to the 1.5°C carbon budget calculated by Climate Change Tracker with a likelihood of 50%, and accessed in September 2025.

Potential limitations to our methodology

We did our best to provide reliable, clear and up-to-date information about carbon bombs, new extraction projects and the players behind them. However, in spite of our efforts, some limitations should be pointed out:

First of all, the freshness of the data depends on the update frequency of our five sources:

  • Our information is based on GEM downloadable datasets which are updated once to twice a year. On the other hand, the information displayed on GEM website can be updated on a daily basis and thus is more up to date than the downloadable dataset we use. This can create a temporary discrepancy between our data and GEM’s website data.
  • GOGEL by Urgewald updated at least yearly.
  • Calculation using Rystad Energy database that is updated at least monthly.
  • Banking On Climate Chaos data, which provides the connections between banks and companies, is updated once a year (last update: 2025).

This might lead to outdated data, but it is the most accurate consolidated publicly available data we found as of today. For data consistency reasons, and to make sure we treat all players with the same methodology, we did not make any manual adjustment to our original datasets when we noticed outdated information, but we added a comment section about it on the specific concerned pages our website. If you notice any outdated information, please let us know in the "Contact" section.

Secondly, we might miss links between companies and projects

as we could only map the connections that are publicly documented. As the links between companies and fossil fuel extraction projects are sometimes opaque, our work may underestimate the amount of companies involved in projects. Besides, coal data is based on GEM database, which works as a wiki: users can update the project details if they can back their modification proposals with reliable public sources.

Thirdly, the basis of our work was to reconcile databases from various sources that were constructed differently.

This might have made us miss some links. The main differences that we faced were diverging carbon bomb names and scopes (extension projects, etc.) depending on the datasets, different company names from one database to another, or subsidiaries from which the parent company could not be identified.

Finally, emissions are calculated using emission factors and reserves and resources at a specific date. These latter are economic indicators that may fluctuate depending on market conditions and technologies.

Emissions are calculated using emission factors, without field by field carbon intensity analysis.

As a result, the numbers provided in our tool are to be taken as orders of magnitude and not as absolute values. If you want to help us please contact us through our contact form.

Emission computation

Project emissions:

Extraction projects emissions are calculated on scope 3, while transport infrastructure LNG terminal emissions are excluded to avoid double counting.

Oil and Gas

Oil and gas remaining emissions are calculated by Reclaim Finance using Rystad Energy 2025 resources at project level, with a breakdown between oil, condensate, natural gas liquids and gas. The emission factor database used is the King metrics one.

  • Past emissions are calculated by Reclaim Finance using 2020 to mid-2025 realized production and forecasted emissions for the second half of the year 2025 using Rystad Energy database.
  • In operation emissions are calculated by Reclaim Finance using 2025 remaining resources from already operational fields.
  • Short term emissions are calculated by Reclaim Finance using 2025 remaining resources from projects under development and under field evaluation.
  • Long term emissions are calculated by Reclaim Finance using remaining resources from discoveries - excepting the project under field evaluation.

Coal

Coal emissions are computed using the reserves (economically recoverable or minable coal) or resource (total estimated volume of a coal deposit in the ground) information available in the GEM database and converted into emissions depending on the type of coal produced (bituminous, subbituminous, lignite, anthracite or a default value when no detail was available).

When resources were the only information available, a ratio (of 48.8%) was applied to the volume to convert it into economically recoverable volumes, and reach a better emission estimate.

Emission allocation to companies:

On a company's page, the cumulative lifetime CO₂ emissions of projects in which the company is involved (whether alone or with other companies) are shown. The calculation takes into account all potential emissions for each project identified in our database in which the company is involved. The CO₂ emissions figure allocates emissions depending on the detention share of each company in each of the projects she is involved in.