Global Energy Monitor

Global Energy Monitor (GEM) is a United States-based nongovernmental organization known for assembling, checking, and publishing information about energy infrastructure around the world. Its work is designed to make the development of the energy system more transparent, particularly by identifying the location, ownership, status, capacity, and development stage of major fossil-fuel and clean-energy projects. The organization presents much of this information through open datasets, maps, project profiles, downloadable research, and the GEM.Wiki platform. The organization began in 2007 under the name Coalswarm. Writer and environmentalist Ted Nace founded the initiative in association with the Earth Island Institute, initially concentrating on a global database of coal-fired power stations. That early tracker became a prominent reference for researchers, journalists, public agencies, and civil-society groups seeking to understand the scale and geographic distribution of coal-power development. Its value rested not only on the quantity of projects recorded, but also on the effort to distinguish proposed, announced, permitted, construction-stage, operating, shelved, and retired facilities. In 2018, the organization became independent and adopted the name Global Energy Monitor. Independence coincided with a major expansion of scope. Beyond coal-fired power, GEM developed or supported tracking of coal mines, gas-fired power plants, gas pipelines and other gas infrastructure, liquefied natural gas facilities, oil and gas extraction, steel plants, and renewable-energy installations. This broadened portfolio allows the organization to compare infrastructure build-out across energy sectors and to examine the relationship between announced projects, investment plans, climate targets, and actual construction. GEM functions primarily as a data and research institution rather than as a conventional consumer-facing brand. Its principal audiences include governments, international agencies, academic researchers, universities, news organizations, financial and commercial analysts, and environmental and climate organizations. The organization’s datasets have been used or cited by bodies and groups including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Energy Agency, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, Oxfam, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, and other research and advocacy institutions. The organization’s reports often assess the direction of energy development rather than simply listing assets. Examples include analysis of global coal-project pipelines, coal phase-out pathways consistent with a 1.5-degree-Celsius objective, natural-gas and liquefied-natural-gas infrastructure, and the risks associated with large-scale fossil-fuel financing. Its datasets are also used in discussions of stranded assets, emissions reductions, climate governance, energy security, and the credibility of national transition plans. Global Energy Monitor’s positioning is based on independent, publicly accessible infrastructure intelligence. Its influence comes from making complex project information usable across jurisdictions and from maintaining a consistent methodology across sectors. The organization does not operate power plants, sell energy, or manufacture energy equipment. Instead, it supplies a shared evidentiary foundation for evaluating what energy projects exist, what projects are planned, and how quickly the global energy system is changing.

Global Energy Monitor traces its origins to 2007, when writer and environmentalist Ted Nace established an initiative called Coalswarm in affiliation with the Earth Island Institute. The early organization focused on documenting coal-fired power stations around the world. At a time when information about proposed and operating coal plants was dispersed among government records, company announcements, planning documents, and local reporting, the project sought to organize these materials into a comparable global resource. The resulting coal-plant database developed into what became the Global Coal Plant Tracker. Its project-level approach recorded more than a simple list of national generation capacity. It sought to identify individual facilities and distinguish their development stages, including proposals, announcements, permitting, construction, operation, suspension, cancellation, and retirement. This made the tracker useful for testing claims about the future of coal power against the status of actual projects. Academic researchers, journalists, public institutions, and environmental organizations increasingly used the data in studies of energy policy and climate change. In 2018, Coalswarm became an independent organization and changed its name to Global Energy Monitor. The new identity reflected a shift from a primarily coal-focused project to a broader energy-infrastructure research institution. GEM expanded its coverage to include coal mines, gas-fired power plants, gas pipelines, liquefied-natural-gas facilities, oil and gas extraction, steel plants, and renewable-energy infrastructure. The expansion enabled cross-sector comparisons and supported research into the interaction between fossil-fuel development, industrial capacity, energy demand, and decarbonization. GEM developed a web-based research model built around datasets, maps, and profiles of individual projects. These materials are organized through the organization’s website and the GEM.Wiki platform, allowing users to examine infrastructure at global, national, regional, and project levels. The organization’s work combines public records, company information, government and regulatory material, satellite and map-based evidence where relevant, and research review. The precise methodology varies by tracker, but the general objective is to produce consistent and auditable information about the energy system. As its coverage grew, GEM began publishing broader assessments of energy trends and project pipelines. Its reports have addressed coal-power development, coal phase-out pathways, natural-gas infrastructure, LNG financing, gas-market risks, steel production, and renewable-energy deployment. Rather than operating as an energy producer or commercial data vendor, GEM positions itself as an independent public-interest source whose information can be reused by researchers, policymakers, media organizations, financial analysts, and civil-society groups. The organization’s datasets have been used by international institutions, universities, nongovernmental organizations, and energy analysts. Reported users include the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Energy Agency, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, Oxfam, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, and other climate and energy research bodies. This broad user base reflects the practical importance of project-level information for climate governance: national commitments and energy scenarios can be evaluated more effectively when they are connected to the facilities actually proposed, financed, built, operated, or retired. Today, Global Energy Monitor’s identity is closely associated with open and structured energy-infrastructure intelligence. Its historical development—from a coal-plant catalog to a multi-sector global monitoring platform—mirrors the widening need to track not only coal but the full infrastructure of fossil fuels, industry, and renewable energy. Its continuing role is to improve public visibility into the physical assets that shape energy markets and the pace of the global energy transition.

• 2020

  Publication of major fossil-fuel infrastructure reports

  [2]Global Energy Monitor official websiteglobalenergymonitor.org

  GEM publishes research on coal-power development, LNG infrastructure, gas-financing risks, and pathways for coal phase-out.

• 2018

  Organization becomes independent and adopts the Global Energy Monitor name

  [1]Global Energy Monitoren.wikipedia.org

  The organization separates from its earlier affiliation and expands its mission beyond coal plants to a wider range of fossil-fuel, industrial, and renewable-energy infrastructure.

• 2018

  Expansion into multi-sector energy tracking

  [1]Global Energy Monitoren.wikipedia.org

  GEM broadens its tracker portfolio to include gas infrastructure, coal mines, oil and gas extraction, steel plants, and renewable-energy projects.

• 2007

  Coalswarm is founded

  [1]Global Energy Monitoren.wikipedia.org

  Ted Nace establishes Coalswarm in affiliation with the Earth Island Institute, initially focusing on global coal-fired power-station data.

An independent, open-data research organization providing global energy-infrastructure intelligence for climate governance, journalism, academic research, public policy, and civil-society analysis.

• Energy infrastructure database

  Global Coal Plant Tracker

  A global project-level database of coal-fired power stations. It is designed to show where coal plants are proposed, announced, permitted, under construction, operating, suspended, cancelled, or retired, helping users assess the scale and evolution of coal-power development.

• Energy infrastructure database

  Global Gas Plant Tracker

  A tracker covering gas-fired power-generation projects and their development status. It supports comparisons of planned and operating gas capacity and provides project-level evidence for research into gas expansion and energy-transition risks.

• Mining infrastructure database

  Global Coal Mine Tracker

  A structured inventory of coal mines and mining projects worldwide. The tracker extends GEM’s coal analysis from power stations to the extraction infrastructure that supplies fuel, allowing users to examine planned production and the wider coal value chain.

• Energy infrastructure database

  Global Gas Infrastructure Tracker

  A database and mapping resource covering major gas infrastructure, including pipelines and related facilities. It is used to evaluate the scale, geography, and development stage of gas networks and their implications for long-term energy planning.

• Energy infrastructure database

  Global Oil Infrastructure Tracker

  A project-level resource documenting oil-related infrastructure and extraction activity. It contributes to GEM’s broader effort to make fossil-fuel development visible across multiple parts of the energy system.

• Industrial infrastructure database

  Global Steel Plant Tracker

  A database of steel plants and related development information. By tracking a major industrial source of energy demand and emissions, the resource connects energy-infrastructure analysis with industrial transition research.

• Regional energy infrastructure database

  Europe Gas Tracker

  A regional tracker focused on gas infrastructure in Europe. It provides a more geographically specific view of gas projects and development plans within a major energy-policy and energy-security market.

• Research platform

  GEM.Wiki

  An online platform that houses project profiles, maps, and related information from Global Energy Monitor’s tracker programs. It gives users a navigable way to inspect individual facilities and connect them with wider datasets and reports.

• 2020

  Publish a coordinated set of coal and gas infrastructure analysesProduct launch

  Background

  Rapid changes in coal and gas project pipelines created demand for current, comparable information about construction, cancellation, financing, and transition risks.

  Action taken

  GEM released reports including Boom and Bust, Gas Bubble 2020, Gambling On Gas, and research on coal phase-out pathways and changing coal-project plans.

  Aftermath

  The reports extended the organization’s role from maintaining trackers to interpreting infrastructure trends for policy, finance, and climate research audiences.

  Source

• 2018

  Expand from coal monitoring to a full energy-infrastructure portfolioStrategy

  Background

  The organization’s original work centered on coal-fired power plants, while public debate increasingly required comparable information about gas, oil, mining, heavy industry, and renewable-energy development.

  Action taken

  Following its move to independence and adoption of the Global Energy Monitor name, GEM expanded its trackers and research coverage across multiple energy and industrial sectors.

  Aftermath

  The broader portfolio positioned GEM as a global energy-infrastructure research organization rather than a coal-only monitoring initiative.

  Source

1. 1Global Energy Monitoren.wikipedia.org
2. 2Global Energy Monitor official websiteglobalenergymonitor.org