Coal and Gas Sites Globally Endanger Public Health of Two Billion Residents, Report Shows

25% of the global population dwells less than five kilometers of operational coal, oil, and gas projects, likely endangering the physical condition of exceeding two billion individuals as well as vital ecosystems, per groundbreaking analysis.

International Spread of Oil and Gas Infrastructure

Over 18.3k petroleum, natural gas, and coal mining facilities are currently located throughout over 170 countries worldwide, covering a extensive territory of the Earth's terrain.

Proximity to drilling wells, refineries, conduits, and other fossil fuel facilities raises the threat of cancer, breathing ailments, heart disease, early delivery, and death, while also causing grave threats to water sources and atmospheric purity, and degrading terrain.

Close Proximity Hazards and Planned Development

Almost 463 million people, counting 124 million minors, presently live within 0.6 miles of oil and gas locations, while an additional 3,500 or so upcoming sites are presently proposed or in progress that could compel 135 million additional residents to experience emissions, burning, and spills.

Most functioning sites have established toxic zones, converting surrounding neighborhoods and critical environments into so-called disposable areas – severely contaminated areas where poor and disadvantaged groups carry the unequal load of contact to pollution.

Health and Natural Impacts

The study details the devastating physical impact from mining, treatment, and movement, as well as demonstrating how leaks, ignitions, and building damage priceless ecological systems and compromise individual rights – notably of those living near petroleum, gas, and coal operations.

The report emerges as international representatives, excluding the US – the biggest past producer of carbon emissions – assemble in Belem, Brazil, for the thirtieth environmental talks amid increasing disappointment at the slow advancement in ending oil, gas, and coal, which are driving environmental breakdown and rights abuses.

"Oil and gas companies and their public supporters have argued for a long time that economic growth depends on coal, oil, and gas. But research shows that under the guise of financial development, they have rather favored self-interest and revenues unchecked, breached rights with widespread exemption, and harmed the air, natural world, and oceans."

Environmental Talks and International Demand

The environmental summit is held as the Philippines, the North American country, and the Caribbean island are reeling from superstorms that were strengthened by higher air and sea heat levels, with nations under mounting pressure to take decisive action to control coal and gas corporations and halt extraction, government funding, permits, and consumption in order to adhere to a significant decision by the international court of justice.

Last week, reports revealed how over five thousand three hundred fifty fossil fuel industry lobbyists have been allowed access to the UN environmental negotiations in the recent years, blocking climate action while their sponsors drill for record volumes of petroleum and natural gas.

Analysis Approach and Results

The statistical analysis is founded on a groundbreaking mapping project by experts who cross-referenced information on the documented locations of coal and gas facilities projects with demographic data, and collections on critical habitats, carbon emissions, and native communities' land.

One-third of all active petroleum, coal mining, and natural gas sites overlap with one or more key habitats such as a marsh, jungle, or waterway that is abundant in biodiversity and vital for emission storage or where natural deterioration or calamity could lead to environmental breakdown.

The actual international scale is likely larger due to gaps in the recording of oil and gas projects and incomplete census records in states.

Natural Injustice and Tribal Populations

The results show long-standing ecological injustice and racism in exposure to oil, gas, and coal mining industries.

Native communities, who comprise five percent of the global population, are unequally subjected to dangerous coal and gas operations, with 16% locations positioned on native territories.

"We face long-term resistance weariness … We literally cannot endure [this]. We have never been the instigators but we have taken the impact of all the aggression."

The spread of fossil fuels has also been associated with property seizures, traditional loss, population conflict, and loss of livelihoods, as well as violence, online threats, and legal actions, both criminal and legal, against community leaders peacefully challenging the construction of pipelines, drilling projects, and other operations.

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