Science & Technology

Gavin McCormick: Tracking the whole world’s carbon emissions — with satellites & AI | TED Countdown

What we know today about global greenhouse gas emissions is mostly self-reported by countries, and those numbers (sometimes tallied manually on paper!) are often inaccurate and prone to manipulation. If we really want to get serious about fighting climate change, we need a way to track carbon pollution in real-time and identify the worst culprits,…

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What we know today about global greenhouse gas emissions is mostly self-reported by countries, and those numbers (sometimes tallied manually on paper!) are often inaccurate and prone to manipulation. If we really want to get serious about fighting climate change, we need a way to track carbon pollution in real-time and identify the worst culprits, says high-tech environmental activist Gavin McCormick. Enter Climate TRACE: a coalition of scientists, activists and tech companies using satellite imagery, big data and AI to monitor and transparently report on all of the world’s emissions as they happen — and speed up meaningful climate action. A powerful, free, global tool to match the scale of a civilization-threatening crisis.

Countdown is TED’s global initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis. The goal: to build a better future by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, in the race to a zero-carbon world. Get involved at

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74 Comments

  1. VaDRitoX

    January 22, 2022 at 5:21 pm

    Great, another tool invented by rich countries to give more surveillance power to governments and to discriminate developing countries AFTER the rich countries have been polluting without consequences for decades.

  2. Diamond Cojones

    January 22, 2022 at 5:25 pm

    CHINAAAAAA. FOCUS ON CHINA. They are the worst culprits and Ted talks wouldnt dare mention it. Am I wrong!?!

    • Strike Digital

      January 22, 2022 at 6:28 pm

      This talk is about the whole world… That includes China…

    • Diamond Cojones

      January 22, 2022 at 9:31 pm

      @Strike Digital how about accountability and finger pointing at the top 5 countries?

  3. Shahram Nikbakhsh

    January 22, 2022 at 5:29 pm

    You will call it a conspiracy theory but it will be used for spying everyone in similar fashion which CIA & Mossad have used it for helping ISIS/Daesh in Syria.

  4. Guitar Daddio

    January 22, 2022 at 5:30 pm

    Nitrous oxide is more harmful to the climate (and to life) than CO2. Surface ozone is bad, but that only kills people which is climate change adjacent.

  5. Deep Sukhwani

    January 22, 2022 at 5:40 pm

    Wow… ❤️

  6. wbball15

    January 22, 2022 at 6:04 pm

    Horse Puckey

  7. Jimmy Zoom

    January 22, 2022 at 6:19 pm

    I think you scientists have done enough damage already

    • Darth Binks

      January 22, 2022 at 10:43 pm

      Wait what? Please explain your thought process

    • Jimmy Zoom

      January 22, 2022 at 11:09 pm

      @Darth Binks how about adding lead into petrol.
      How about drugs like vioxx.
      How about ddt
      How about pesticides

      And if they’re wrong about this, they’re going to cause the price of fuel to Rocket causing hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide. Africa will be plunged into darkness if not already

    • Darth Binks

      January 22, 2022 at 11:15 pm

      @Jimmy Zoom omg what are you on about? Im not sure what part of the world you live in but in Australia we phased out leaded petrol years ago.

    • Darth Binks

      January 22, 2022 at 11:17 pm

      @Jimmy Zoom and yet its scientists who discovered medical scientific advances that give longevity. Yes i get it, its a double edge sword, but as we learn WHAT NOT TO DO we advance as a species improving on all things.

  8. Big Dee

    January 22, 2022 at 6:29 pm

    Self-loathing clowns 🤡 need to whip themselves for relief … this is disgusting

  9. Dang Ling Long

    January 22, 2022 at 6:43 pm

    Well yeah but what about chemtrails?

    • Darth Binks

      January 22, 2022 at 10:44 pm

      Chemtrails 🤣🤣🤣 yeah righto mate

  10. Shawn Hawkins

    January 22, 2022 at 6:56 pm

    Good luck plugging volcanoes dumaz

  11. CMDR After Hours

    January 22, 2022 at 6:57 pm

    Propaganda. Imagine my surprise. I wonder why YouTube got rid of the ability to see dislikes? Y’all are exposed and we arent associated with the UN anymore.

  12. E. Meh

    January 22, 2022 at 8:02 pm

    Thank you

  13. thegreatpotenza '

    January 22, 2022 at 8:02 pm

    Didnt they say they were building sattelites & AI to track covid? People like Bill Gates selling everybody hope dreams while he rakes in all the government wellfare and rides on his private jet. TED talk is propaganda.

  14. Sunnat Amirov

    January 22, 2022 at 8:07 pm

    Now you’re talking about.

  15. Aditya

    January 22, 2022 at 8:30 pm

    Just checked out the website. Gotta say, the stats and sources are super clear. This is going to help so many students for their assignments. I hope it pushes the politicians to do the right thing

  16. mkhud50n

    January 22, 2022 at 9:23 pm

    Big Brother under the disguise of “saving the planet”. Scam and a power grab. Based on a lot of unscientific presumptions too. 🤷‍♂️

  17. Buildings1772

    January 22, 2022 at 9:33 pm

    we dont ask polluters about their emissions

    we know how much CO2 per tonn of fuel is released. and we know how much coal oil gass ect is sold each year.

    we can quite easily extrapolate from that

  18. Lisa Love Ministry

    January 22, 2022 at 10:43 pm

    John 3:16💝

    • Trevor Jennings

      January 23, 2022 at 12:27 am

      May the peace of the lord almighty, be with you and your family, in Jesus Christ name i’have prayed, Amen

  19. Bill Norris

    January 22, 2022 at 10:53 pm

    An enlightening video, thanks..All of these new technological tools are great, no doubt..It would seem however that they’re immediate purpose is for simple observation.. Unfortunately I can’t see how simply identifying these super polluters will enable any expedient and effective control, especially in countries like China, India, Russia, and a great many more.. Fortunately there ARE concrete actions we CAN and should begin to seriously consider.. Ideas that have the potential to eventually give us a sort of thermostatic control over the Earth’s atmospheric temperatures..All forms of affirmative action LIKE those presented here, are of continuing importantance though..Peace.

    • Greg Gary

      January 23, 2022 at 1:06 pm

      There is an axiom in business “what get measured gets done” – the point here is that entity A now knows what entity B – a competitor, a neighbour, an ally – is doing and vice versa. And so so the rest of us.

  20. w.d.g

    January 22, 2022 at 11:01 pm

    Only heard up to 2:30 so far. Paused to type. I love what this person is doing. We need this. Real carbon dioxide accounts in real time are needed.

  21. w.d.g

    January 22, 2022 at 11:01 pm

    Only heard up to 2:30 so far. Paused to type. I love what this person is doing. We need this. Real time GHG emissions measured per emitter is needed. Thank you so much!

  22. Irving Peenwiddle

    January 23, 2022 at 1:03 am

    Don’t buy the Carbon Lie!

  23. WeAre Paramore

    January 23, 2022 at 1:09 am

    Asking polluters how much they polluted is like putting the high polluting countries as climate change leaders lol, that’s why after 26 COP nothing has changed

  24. Johnna Houseman

    January 23, 2022 at 1:10 am

    Everyones missile testing is creating emissions. Make peace stop pollution 🤣😂

  25. Arun Kumar

    January 23, 2022 at 1:25 am

    The subtitles are 2-3 seconds back than the voice coming…. Please check it out 👍

  26. David Sanchez

    January 23, 2022 at 1:36 am

    Good to see these advancements… but never be so arrogant saying that it will be impossible to hide emissions… that’s is so simple, that I will not give you any hint on how do it…

    • Sheldon Fernandes

      January 23, 2022 at 5:15 am

      Lol, it’s easy to Google this stuff. Any person who has taken a CV/DL class would know how to cheat.

  27. John Spounias

    January 23, 2022 at 2:24 am

    iot has always meant to tackle issues like this, block-knock-racy

  28. 🇬█ 𝔎𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑚 𝔎alisari│

    January 23, 2022 at 2:35 am

    🌎🌍🌏
    TED | Have they not looked to the birds above them spreading their wings, and (at times) they fold (them) in? No one holds them up except the RaHmān (the All-Merciful Allah). Surely He is watchful of every thing.

    TED | Did they not look at the birds how they are controlled in the atmosphere of the sky? No one holds them but Allah. Surely, in that there are signs for a people who believe.

    – the # HolyKoran –

    Thank you.
    And May God’s peace🌏 be upon you all!

    GOOD HEALTH ALWAYS!
    # I Thank you.
    🌎🌍
    ###
    .

  29. Shagun Koundal

    January 23, 2022 at 2:49 am

    Please 🙏🙏 make English subtitles in videos

  30. marwan qannam

    January 23, 2022 at 6:14 am

    Most of the bad disasters have been happend because of the international conflict between the big countries those leaders are looking for control the human behaviour they want to treat you as like the ATM machine . The enemy is invisible they want to convince you that if you want to live in a peaceful way try to kill or denial all poor people over the world

  31. Shaun Rankin

    January 23, 2022 at 7:11 am

    lol this is all bs
    You’ve know for decades? Scientist in the 70’s predicted an ice age 🤣
    Climate change is the devils pathetic attempt to explain away Gods signs in the heavens and on earth.

  32. Kartik Hegde

    January 23, 2022 at 7:30 am

    These tasks can be easily implemented by big tech players like Google, Meta, and others. But unfortunately they don’t seem to care. Or government has chained them.

  33. Eli Nope

    January 23, 2022 at 7:46 am

    Do you look at giant ships in international waters that are unregulated? I heard they use the dirt cheap fuel that is usually illegal in most countries because of how dirty it is.

    • hootsmin

      January 25, 2022 at 1:00 pm

      Its called bunker fuel, its got geoengineering components in it like calcium carbonate. A few years back they wanted to put scrubbers on the smoke stacks, but Goldman Sachs stepped in and put the smack-down on that because they use it for geoengineering.

  34. Michael Titov

    January 23, 2022 at 8:48 am

    What is it, so much money is going to fight, and the garbage patch in the ocean is only growing.

  35. Ievgen Mykhailenko

    January 23, 2022 at 11:09 am

    this is very cool. thanks for all the hard work!

  36. Beetho Ardila

    January 23, 2022 at 11:48 am

    At least he’s not faking his voice like Elizabeth Holmes…

  37. Brian Estell

    January 23, 2022 at 12:35 pm

    To bad it’s too late

  38. Greg Gary

    January 23, 2022 at 1:28 pm

    Beyond the fact that this is fantastic and would have been unthinkable even 5 years ago, I can only say that the number of comments here representing delusion & denial would be truly disheartening were it not that true genius occasionally pops out of the froth of intellectual regurgitation found at the edges of the societal bell curve. Damn tho. Not a one here.

  39. td Jordan

    January 23, 2022 at 4:29 pm

    Sto the sun from burning, volcanos from erupting, China from burning coal, governments from waging war. It’s a FOOLS errand. Stop the insanity.

  40. Edyta Ma

    January 23, 2022 at 6:27 pm

    ATM??

  41. Chan Ratha

    January 23, 2022 at 10:54 pm

    神様の公式見解は、意味の無い、潜在的能力の、覚醒? 自己満足啓蒙活動は、止める事です。 何故ですか?  ユダ混血児の、良さ、欠点が、分かるのは、神様だけ、だからです。

  42. Maybe You're Right😀

    January 24, 2022 at 1:39 am

    Yes
    😀
    👍

    🌎TED | maybe you’re right!

    Yes,
    maybe you’re right 👍

    Yes 😀
    👍
    # Cop 26
    SAVE OUR PLANET 🌏🌍🌎!

    👍

    ” we are talked a lot about, but we are not listened to ” -why?
    😀
    Thank you.

  43. Taranizs

    January 24, 2022 at 5:10 am

    Hah. Some country is like “Well according to our reports, we’ve got the lowest emissions on the planet, you all suck!”. Meanwhile their reports are written on papyrus and needed 2 historians and a half dozen translators just to get it figured out.

  44. {-_-}

    January 24, 2022 at 7:31 am

    Call me “crazy.” But there is something WRONG with “humankind.” CHECK EVERYONE to see if they are human. DNA TEST EVERYBODY ON EARTH.

    Who is insane enough to commit a SPECIES-ENDING CATASTROPHE (i.e. climate change), when they were once loved & raised by other people? From birth, childhood to adulthood.

    NOBODY is THAT crazy. They care about SOMETHING & SOMEONE.

    If you were an alien 👽 who HATED humans, wouldn’t you use climate change to DESTROY them?

    It’s the ultimate way to END them. They would NEVER know you were there & would BURN 🔥 because they were TOO SCARED TO KNOW. If they knew you existed, they would only unite & retaliate.
    DO IT. SOMEBODY.

    There is ONLY 1 CHANCE EVER. Just check PLEASE (FBI, CIA, NSA, whatever). The ENTIRE FUTURE of humanity will BURN! YOUR KIDS’ LIVES ARE ON THE LINE.

    If you’re wrong, who cares? You’ll just learn more about yourself in the process (i.e. science)
    But, if you’re right…

    History has shown that some of the greatest discoveries begin with something being “off”

    “No harm, no foul.”

  45. Jonathan Barnes

    January 24, 2022 at 9:21 am

    A gas at 0.04% in our atmosphere has nothing at all to do with climate change. Only media indoctrinated fools believe such utter nonsense. The ice caps are not melting and our planet isn’t even warming. Man made climate change the invisible non existent enemy loved by virtue signalling globalists and leftists based on useless predictive models at the IPCC.

  46. Miroslav Houdek

    January 24, 2022 at 3:41 pm

    Does that make any sense in comparison to ESA’s Tropomi, GeoCarb, GHGSat or Copernicus? It’s nice to have a machine learning solution that find a powerplant and scores it based on chimney vapor plume. But if 86 times more potent (colourless) methane is escaping from abandon wells at breakneck pace somewhere, something crucial is missing. It’s always good to have a consolidated database, that’s for sure.

    P.S.: I’m in awe that we don’t already have a space and ground segment to basically do accounting and just publish precise values for every country. After that, we can think how we should adjust custom systems accordingly, so that goods from countries that would try to avoid investments into green tech would be appropriately priced, including these externalities. That would be only fair to those who are willing to go green. There’s a huge fear of investing into green, because then you have to compete with countries that didn’t and are thus cheaper.

    • Eric Johnson

      January 24, 2022 at 7:33 pm

      Add to that methane escaping from permafrost that is melting in northern Asia.

  47. Kylan Heinrich

    January 24, 2022 at 4:53 pm

    Watch kurzgesagt’s vid about the same topic. We’re aleady fcked. No one really wants to lose profit or live a lifestyle that’s less comfortable for less gas emissions.

  48. Eric Johnson

    January 24, 2022 at 7:35 pm

    WOW!!! Totally awesome!

  49. J.A.DinosaursMateStraightUp◟̽◞̽

    January 24, 2022 at 7:56 pm

    Actually extremely interesting

    • J.A.DinosaursMateStraightUp◟̽◞̽

      January 24, 2022 at 7:57 pm

      E

    • J.A.DinosaursMateStraightUp◟̽◞̽

      January 24, 2022 at 7:57 pm

      S

    • J.A.DinosaursMateStraightUp◟̽◞̽

      January 24, 2022 at 7:57 pm

      T

  50. Akademik Egamberdiyev

    January 25, 2022 at 3:49 pm

    I listen for jast improve my English

  51. Andrejs BOKA

    January 25, 2022 at 6:15 pm

    Sounds very promising. Let’s check the website 🙂

  52. DEBABRATA BANERJEE

    January 26, 2022 at 3:23 am

    Excellent producer generated emission tracker. No one can hide. Now goods & services are produced for consumption. So the next job is to quantitively track these goods & services to who is consuming these? Then we can assign the respective quantities of emission to those consumers. Then we can correctly identify the entities responsible for the emission. Then take socio-political action to reduce consumption at the appropriate demand points instead of just ask India or China to reduce emission. Emissions to produce steel in China for USA should be assigned to USA’s account. Emission to produce BMWs in Germany for China should be assigned to China. Well, such equitable assessment of emission will take time & may be too late, and the mother mature may not wait. Better to pray for Lake Toba to help us once again so that we can start all over again.

  53. RonaldBeck

    January 26, 2022 at 3:25 am

    How can I turn this into an nft

  54. Paul G.

    January 26, 2022 at 10:41 am

    “We actually exist as a society spending more resources on monitoring funny cat videos on the Internet than a civilization-threatening crisis.”

  55. haku4207

    January 26, 2022 at 1:20 pm

    subtitles are out of sync. just leave the automatically generated ones.

  56. Vlog BGM No Copyright Music

    January 27, 2022 at 2:20 pm

    💙💙💙💙💛💛💛💛

  57. totalfreedom45

    January 27, 2022 at 4:13 pm

    Here we have the solution—Climate TRACE, *_56.1 million millionaires,_* and *_2755 billionaires_* worldwide. 💕 ☮ 🌎 🌌

  58. That Guy

    January 28, 2022 at 7:50 am

    Does that mean we can start taxing those responsible instead?

  59. Avi Richar

    January 28, 2022 at 12:42 pm

    “Excellent!” — Bill & Ted’s grandkids, via tightbeam reverse-time transmission from the future

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