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One-fourth of the world's residents lives less than 5km of operational oil, gas, and coal sites, likely risking the physical condition of over 2 billion people as well as vital environmental systems, per first-of-its-kind research.

International Spread of Oil and Gas Sites

Over eighteen thousand three hundred petroleum, gas, and coal sites are presently located in over 170 countries worldwide, occupying a extensive territory of the planet's surface.

Closeness to extraction sites, processing plants, transport lines, and additional oil and gas facilities elevates the danger of tumors, lung diseases, cardiac problems, preterm labor, and fatality, while also creating severe risks to water sources and atmospheric purity, and degrading terrain.

Close Proximity Dangers and Proposed Growth

Nearly over 460 million residents, counting one hundred twenty-four million children, currently dwell within 0.6 miles of oil and gas operations, while an additional 3,500 or so new sites are presently proposed or being built that could require one hundred thirty-five million further individuals to face pollutants, burning, and leaks.

Nearly all operational projects have established toxic concentrated areas, transforming nearby populations and essential habitats into often termed sacrifice zones – severely contaminated areas where economically disadvantaged and disadvantaged populations carry the disproportionate weight of contact to contaminants.

Medical and Natural Effects

The study outlines the severe physical impact from mining, treatment, and shipping, as well as demonstrating how spills, burning, and construction damage irreplaceable environmental habitats and weaken human rights – notably of those residing in proximity to petroleum, gas, and coal mining facilities.

It comes as international representatives, not including the United States – the largest historical producer of carbon emissions – meet in Belem, Brazil, for the 30th annual global climate conference amid rising concern at the slow advancement in eliminating coal, oil, and gas, which are driving global ecological crisis and civil liberties infringements.

"Oil and gas companies and their public supporters have maintained for many years that economic growth depends on fossil fuels. But it is clear that under the guise of financial development, they have rather promoted self-interest and profits unchecked, infringed rights with near-complete immunity, and damaged the air, ecosystems, and seas."

Environmental Talks and Global Pressure

The environmental summit occurs as the the Asian nation, the North American country, and the Caribbean island are dealing with superstorms that were worsened by increased atmospheric and sea temperatures, with countries under mounting urgency to take strong action to regulate oil and gas corporations and halt drilling, financial support, authorizations, and consumption in order to comply with a historic decision by the global judicial body.

In recent days, revelations revealed how more than 5,350 fossil fuel industry advocates have been granted admission to the UN global conferences in the past four years, obstructing environmental measures while their paymasters extract record quantities of petroleum and natural gas.

Study Process and Data

The quantitative study is founded on a first-of-its-kind mapping project by experts who analyzed information on the documented positions of coal and gas infrastructure projects with population information, and datasets on critical ecosystems, carbon releases, and Indigenous peoples' land.

33% of all active petroleum, coal, and natural gas sites coincide with one or more critical habitats such as a marsh, woodland, or waterway that is teeming with wildlife and important for CO2 absorption or where ecological deterioration or catastrophe could lead to ecosystem collapse.

The real worldwide scope is possibly greater due to deficiencies in the documentation of fossil fuel projects and incomplete census information across nations.

Environmental Inequality and Tribal Communities

The results demonstrate entrenched environmental inequity and discrimination in contact to petroleum, natural gas, and coal mining operations.

Tribal populations, who account for five percent of the global people, are disproportionately exposed to dangerous oil and gas infrastructure, with a sixth locations positioned on native areas.

"We face long-term battle fatigue … We physically will not withstand [this]. We were never the instigators but we have borne the brunt of all the violence."

The growth of oil, gas, and coal has also been linked with land grabs, heritage destruction, social fragmentation, and economic hardship, as well as aggression, internet intimidation, and court cases, both penal and non-criminal, against community leaders calmly resisting the development of transport lines, mining sites, and other facilities.

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