The hydrogen-to-carbon mole perspective reveals cleanness and inequality of global and national fossil fuel transition.

ABSTRACT: Transition away from fossil fuels concerns both carbon and hydrogen as the main energy carriers in different hydrocarbons, but the current energy transition literature primarily emphasizes carbon, with limited attention to hydrogen embedded in fossil fuels. Here we introduce the index of Hydrogen-to-Carbon Mole Ratio (HCR) to measure the clean transition and inequality of global and national fossil fuel consumption, production, export, and import over nearly four decades (1980-2016). We show that the HCR reveals the cleanness of fossil fuel consumption and production falling behind those of import and export. Energy transition demonstrates inequality, as high and upper-middle income economies continuously consume cleaner fossil fuels with higher HCR than the lower-middle and low income eco

SUBMITTER: Song G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12749294 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature