Lesson plan

Climate TRACE

Climate TRACE (Tracking Real-Time Atmospheric Carbon Emissions) is an independent group which monitors and publishes greenhouse gas emissions. It launched in 2021 before COP26, and improves monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of both carbon dioxide and methane. The group monitors sources such as coal mines and power station smokestacks worldwide, with satellite data (but not their own satellites) and artificial intelligence. Time magazine named it as one of the hundred best inventions of 2020. Their emissions map is the largest global inventory and interactive map of greenhouse gas emission sources. According to Kelly Sims Gallagher it could influence the politics of climate change by reducing MRV disputes, and lead to more ambitious climate pledges. Developed countries' annual reports to the UNFCCC are submitted over a year after the end of the monitored year. Developing countries in the Paris Agreement submit every two years. Some large emitters, such as Iran which has not ratified the agreement, have not submitted a greenhouse gas inventory in the 2020s. New data is released monthly 2 months after the emissions.

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Article summary

Climate TRACE (Tracking Real-Time Atmospheric Carbon Emissions) is an independent group which monitors and publishes greenhouse gas emissions. It launched in 2021 before COP26, and improves monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of both carbon dioxide and methane. The group monitors sources such as coal mines and power station smokestacks worldwide, with satellite data (but not their own satellites) and artificial intelligence. Time magazine named it as one of the hundred best inventions of 2020. Their emissions map is the largest global inventory and interactive map of greenhouse gas emission sources. According to Kelly Sims Gallagher it could influence the politics of climate change by reducing MRV disputes, and lead to more ambitious climate pledges. Developed countries' annual reports to the UNFCCC are submitted over a year after the end of the monitored year. Developing countries in the Paris Agreement submit every two years. Some large emitters, such as Iran which has not ratified the agreement, have not submitted a greenhouse gas inventory in the 2020s. New data is released monthly 2 months after the emissions.

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Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  3. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.