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Introduction

Greenhouse gas emissions must rapidly decrease worldwide to limit climate change and prevent severe climate impacts. Today, the energy sector represents a large part of global greenhouse gas emissions, with a share of 76%, according to Climate Watch. One way to achieve decarbonization is massive electrification of end-uses in different sectors: transportation, buildings, and industry.

However, electricity is not necessarily clean as more than 60% of today’s global electricity production is fossil-based (coal, gas, and oil). Coal alone still represents more than 35% of our electricity generation. At Electricity Maps, we fight against climate change by enabling individuals, institutions, governments, and corporations to drive the reduction of electricity-related emissions with electricity CO2 data. We provide hourly carbon intensity and power breakdown data with a high spatial granularity through our live map, our free API for individuals, and our commercial API. Recently, we released a data portal with worldwide historical carbon intensity data.

This report highlights the importance of using data with high spatial and temporal granularity for carbon accounting.