Observing human CO₂ emissions

The proximal driver of fossil fuel CO₂ emissions, fuel supply and demand, offers an efficient observational opportunity since fuel is a traceable, physical commodity that moves through economic "chokepoints", e.g., refineries and coal trains but offers far less in terms of process understanding than the more wieldy upstream economic drivers. Conceptualizing a carbon monitoring system centered primarily on atmospheric concentration measurements, could lead to great inefficiencies in the allocation of limited scientific resources, including missed opportunities to provide a wider suite of decision-support information. Direct observation of fossil fuel CO₂ emissions may be a more economically efficient means by which to monitor and verify emissions. A complete carbon monitoring system (CMS) could act as an independent quantification system for a carbon trading market, an eventuality that many climate policy experts consider essential to significant CO₂ emission mitigation. Like any traded commodity, price is strongly linked to trust in accurate quantification.