New Australian tool quantifies human toll of fossil fuel projects across climate impacts

Australian National University and UNSW introduced the Carbon Impacts Tracer, an online, open-source calculator that converts lifetime emissions from coal, oil and gas developments into concrete climate and social outcomes. Built on a methodology published in Climate Action in 2025 by researchers from six Australian and UK universities, the tracer currently evaluates five high-profile projects: Queensland’s Carmichael mine, the proposed Narrabri Gas Project in NSW, and three Western Australian schemes including Woodside’s Scarborough offshore project and the North West Shelf Extension.

According to the model, Carmichael could expose an additional 2.8 million people to extreme heat, while the North West Shelf Extension would affect 2.6 million, raise sea levels by.057 mm and endanger 80.4 million coral colonies during each reef bleaching event. Climate science professor Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick emphasized that the tool makes tangible the often-dismissed emissions of new fossil projects. Research officer Claudia Stepin highlighted added metrics on poverty, labor loss and food insecurity, enabling a fuller picture of societal costs. Users may input their own project scenarios, offering a new basis for accountability, advocacy and policy deliberations ahead of upcoming decisions such as the Hunter Valley Operations coal mine extension and the pre-COP meetings in Fiji and Tuvalu.