Adaptive CO₂ emissions mitigation strategies of global oil refineries in all age groups

Continuous expansion of fossil fuel-based energy infrastructure can be one of the key obstacles in delivering the Paris Agreement goals. The oil refinery is the world's third-largest stationary emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs), but the historical mapping of the regional-specific refining industry, their CO₂ emission patterns, and mitigation potentials remain understudied. This study develops a plant-level, technical-specific, and time-series global refinery CO₂ emission inventory, covering 1,056 refineries from 2000 to 2018. The CO₂ emissions of the refinery industry were about 1.3 gigatonnes (Gt) in 2018, representing 4% of the total. If current technical specifications continue, the global refineries will cumulatively emit 16.5 Gt of CO₂ during 2020–2030. The refineries vary in operation age, refining configuration structure, and geographical location, leading to the demand for specific mitigation strategies, such as improving refinery efficiency and upgrading heavy oil processing technologies, which could potentially reduce global cumulative emissions by 10% during 2020–2030.