Major oil and gas companies generally count fossil fuel reserves as valuable assets on their financial balance sheets. But a question we posed to oil companies all the way back in 2006 revealed how unlikely it is that those companies will ever fully realize the value of those assets: What happens if we burn all the oil you have now? Quick estimates revealed that the world already has enough fossil fuel reserves on hand to more than double atmospheric carbon levels to an unacceptable 1,000 parts per million (ppm) or higher.
It looked like there was an awful lot of unburnable carbon — or “stranded assets” — sitting on oil and gas company balance sheets. That finding led to widespread discussion of the idea of stranded assets and unburnable carbon in the financial community. But has that realization led fossil fuel companies to reduce the amount of unburnable carbon claimed as assets on their balance sheets?
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