A decade of research on the natural variations in mercury(Hg)stable isotope abundances has shown large variations across biogeochemical reservoirs.These variations result from the gradual separation of heavy/light or even/odd Hg isotopes during the numerous physicochemical processes that shuttle Hg across the Earths surface.As a result,a Hg isotopic measurement gives rise to four useful isotope fingerprints that may characterize its source,or code for the transformations that Hg has undergone in the past.Tracing the dominant natural and anthropogenic Hg emissions at the global level is a challenge.The further Hg emissions travel from their source,the more likely it is that oxidation/reduction,sorption or(de-)methylation reactions modify the original source Hg isotope signatures.This presentation illustrates an integrated approach to evaluate Hg isotope tracing at the global scale.Similar to modern and historic Hg emission inventories,a parallel Hg isotope database needs to be built per industrial sector and geographical region.Industrial processes include Hg transformations that may change isotope signatures and need to be understood.Monitoring of the isotopic composition of emitted Hg species and associated Hg deposition at different spatiotemporal scales is necessary.Finally,monitoring of critical receptor environments on continents and oceans and on different time scales(modern,geologic)will tell if globally relevant emission sources can be recognized.All of these tasks are compatible with box and process models of the global Hg cyle,so that Hg isotopic information may in the near future be integrated in global models to help understand Hg cycling.The approach will be illustrated for coal fired power plant(CFPP)emissions: A coal Hg isotope database,containing~200 coal samples from historically dominant coal burning regions has been made.A study on two large Chinese coal fired power plants suggests that stack emission Hg isotope signatures are slightly modified from feed coal signatures by emission control technologies.Bi-weekly monitoring of gaseous and particulate Hg isotope signatures in Asian urban-industrial environments is compatible with a dominant CFPP source.