Oil and Gas Sites Around the World Threaten Health of Over 2bn Residents, Analysis Shows

One-fourth of the global residents resides less than 5km of active oil, gas, and coal facilities, potentially threatening the physical condition of over 2 billion human beings as well as vital ecosystems, according to pioneering research.

Global Distribution of Oil and Gas Infrastructure

Over 18,300 oil, natural gas, and coal locations are currently located throughout over 170 countries worldwide, covering a vast territory of the world's land.

Proximity to extraction sites, processing plants, transport lines, and other oil and gas operations elevates the risk of cancer, respiratory conditions, heart disease, preterm labor, and mortality, while also creating severe dangers to drinking water and atmospheric purity, and harming land.

Close Proximity Risks and Proposed Growth

Nearly half a billion people, including one hundred twenty-four million minors, currently live inside 1km of coal and gas operations, while another 3.5k or so new projects are now planned or being built that could compel over 130 million more residents to endure emissions, gas flares, and spills.

The majority of active projects have formed pollution zones, transforming nearby communities and essential habitats into so-called disposable areas – heavily contaminated zones where low-income and disadvantaged communities bear the disproportionate burden of exposure to pollution.

Medical and Natural Consequences

The report outlines the devastating physical toll from extraction, refining, and movement, as well as showing how seepages, ignitions, and construction harm irreplaceable environmental habitats and undermine human rights – especially of those residing near oil, gas, and coal infrastructure.

The report emerges as international representatives, excluding the United States – the greatest historical producer of climate pollutants – gather in Belém, the South American nation, for the thirtieth climate negotiations in the context of rising disappointment at the slow advancement in ending fossil fuels, which are driving planetary collapse and human rights violations.

"The fossil fuel industry and its government backers have claimed for decades that economic growth needs coal, oil, and gas. But it is clear that masked as prosperity, they have instead promoted self-interest and profits unchecked, infringed rights with almost total exemption, and harmed the climate, natural world, and marine environments."

Environmental Discussions and Global Urgency

The climate conference is held as the Philippines, Mexico, and the Caribbean island are dealing with superstorms that were intensified by higher atmospheric and ocean temperatures, with states under growing urgency to take firm steps to oversee oil and gas corporations and stop mining, government funding, permits, and use in order to adhere to a landmark judgment by the international court of justice.

Recently, disclosures showed how in excess of over 5.3k oil and gas sector lobbyists have been given admission to the international climate talks in the past four years, blocking climate action while their employers extract historic quantities of oil and gas.

Research Methodology and Results

The statistical research is derived from a first-of-its-kind mapping exercise by researchers who cross-referenced records on the known locations of fossil fuel facilities locations with demographic data, and collections on essential ecosystems, carbon emissions, and Indigenous peoples' land.

33% of all active oil, coal, and natural gas sites overlap with multiple key habitats such as a swamp, forest, or aquatic network that is teeming with species diversity and critical for emission storage or where natural deterioration or calamity could lead to habitat destruction.

The true global scale is possibly higher due to deficiencies in the recording of oil and gas projects and incomplete census information across states.

Environmental Injustice and Indigenous Populations

The data show deep-seated environmental unfairness and racism in contact to petroleum, natural gas, and coal industries.

Indigenous peoples, who comprise one in twenty of the global population, are unfairly exposed to health-reducing oil and gas operations, with one in six sites located on Indigenous lands.

"We're experiencing intergenerational struggle exhaustion … We literally won't survive [this]. We are not the initiators but we have taken the impact of all the aggression."

The expansion of coal, oil, and gas has also been linked with property seizures, heritage destruction, population conflict, and income reduction, as well as violence, internet intimidation, and legal actions, both penal and legal, against local representatives peacefully challenging the development of pipelines, extraction operations, and additional operations.

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