[1][2] Carbon Tracker was founded by UK fund manager Mark Campanale, with Jeremy Leggett serving as chairman.

As summarized by Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf: "The conclusion is quite simple: burning known reserves of fossil fuels is incompatible with meeting the climate targets governments have set themselves.

"[4] The Paris Agreement, adopted internationally in December 2015, aims to keep the global average temperature rise below 2 °C of warming, to avoid and reduce some of the most severe risks and impacts of climate change.

This raises the possibility that, by financing the development and production of fossil fuels that might never be consumed, investors are exposed to the risk of "stranded assets", rendered unprofitable by climate regulations and technological alternatives such as renewable energy.

[6] Reuters described this idea – that investors were financing a "carbon bubble" – as having become 'part of "the climate change lexicon"; it has formed the basis for warnings about "stranded assets" by Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and inspired groups like Norway's sovereign wealth fund to divest billions in fossil fuel holdings'.