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25% of the global population lives inside 5km of active oil, gas, and coal projects, potentially threatening the physical condition of more than two billion individuals as well as essential ecosystems, according to groundbreaking research.

Worldwide Spread of Coal and Gas Operations

Over 18.3k petroleum, gas, and coal sites are currently spread throughout one hundred seventy countries globally, covering a large area of the planet's terrain.

Proximity to wellheads, processing plants, pipelines, and further oil and gas operations increases the threat of tumors, breathing ailments, cardiovascular issues, early delivery, and fatality, while also causing grave threats to water sources and atmospheric purity, and degrading soil.

Immediate Vicinity Hazards and Proposed Development

Approximately over 460 million residents, encompassing one hundred twenty-four million children, presently live within 1km of oil and gas locations, while another 3,500 or so new sites are now under consideration or being built that could require over 130 million further people to endure fumes, burning, and leaks.

Most operational projects have formed pollution concentrated areas, turning nearby neighborhoods and vital environments into so-called sacrifice zones – heavily polluted zones where economically disadvantaged and marginalized groups shoulder the unfair load of exposure to contaminants.

Physical and Ecological Effects

This analysis details the harmful medical impact from drilling, processing, and movement, as well as showing how seepages, flares, and development harm irreplaceable ecological systems and compromise individual rights – particularly of those living near oil, natural gas, and coal facilities.

This occurs as global delegates, not including the United States – the biggest historical source of carbon emissions – gather in Belém, Brazil, for the 30th climate negotiations amid rising frustration at the slow advancement in eliminating fossil fuels, which are causing environmental breakdown and rights abuses.

"The fossil fuel industry and their public supporters have maintained for decades that societal progress depends on coal, oil, and gas. But research shows that in the name of financial development, they have instead served profit and profits without red lines, violated rights with widespread exemption, and harmed the air, biosphere, and seas."

Global Discussions and International Pressure

The climate conference occurs as the Philippines, the North American country, and Jamaica are reeling from superstorms that were worsened by higher air and ocean temperatures, with states under increasing demand to take strong measures to control coal and gas firms and end drilling, subsidies, permits, and demand in order to adhere to a significant ruling by the international court of justice.

Recently, disclosures revealed how over 5,350 oil and gas sector advocates have been granted admission to the international climate talks in the last several years, hindering environmental measures while their employers pump unprecedented volumes of oil and gas.

Analysis Approach and Findings

The statistical study is derived from a innovative location-based exercise by experts who compared records on the documented positions of oil and gas infrastructure sites with census information, and records on critical habitats, climate outputs, and native communities' land.

One-third of all operational oil, coal mining, and natural gas locations intersect with one or more essential environments such as a marsh, woodland, or river system that is abundant in wildlife and critical for CO2 absorption or where natural degradation or catastrophe could lead to ecosystem collapse.

The true global extent is likely greater due to omissions in the reporting of coal and gas operations and restricted census data throughout countries.

Environmental Inequality and Native Peoples

The data show long-standing ecological unfairness and racism in contact to oil, gas, and coal mining operations.

Tribal populations, who represent five percent of the international people, are unfairly exposed to life-shortening oil and gas facilities, with 16% facilities situated on tribal areas.

"We endure intergenerational battle fatigue … Our bodies cannot endure [this]. We are not the starters but we have borne the impact of all the violence."

The expansion of oil, gas, and coal has also been associated with land grabs, heritage destruction, social fragmentation, and loss of livelihoods, as well as force, online threats, and court cases, both illegal and civil, against community leaders calmly resisting the construction of conduits, drilling projects, and additional infrastructure.

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