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One-fourth of the global population resides within 5km of active oil, gas, and coal sites, likely risking the health of more than two billion people as well as critical natural habitats, per first-of-its-kind study.

Worldwide Spread of Fossil Fuel Infrastructure

Over eighteen thousand three hundred oil, natural gas, and coal sites are presently distributed in over 170 countries globally, occupying a vast territory of the world's land.

Closeness to drilling wells, industrial plants, pipelines, and additional oil and gas facilities raises the danger of cancer, respiratory conditions, cardiovascular issues, premature birth, and death, while also causing grave risks to water sources and air cleanliness, and harming terrain.

Close Proximity Dangers and Proposed Expansion

Almost half a billion individuals, encompassing over 120 million youth, presently dwell within one kilometer of fossil fuel locations, while another three thousand five hundred or so upcoming projects are presently proposed or under development that could require over 130 million additional people to experience emissions, flares, and spills.

The majority of operational sites have established toxic zones, turning surrounding neighborhoods and vital ecosystems into often termed expendable regions – highly toxic areas where low-income and disadvantaged groups carry the unequal weight of exposure to toxins.

Medical and Natural Consequences

The study outlines the severe medical toll from drilling, treatment, and movement, as well as demonstrating how seepages, ignitions, and building harm priceless environmental habitats and compromise human rights – notably of those dwelling near petroleum, natural gas, and coal mining facilities.

It comes as global delegates, not including the United States – the greatest long-term emitter of greenhouse gases – assemble in Belem, Brazil, for the 30th environmental talks amid rising disappointment at the slow advancement in phasing out coal, oil, and gas, which are driving global ecological crisis and human rights violations.

"Oil and gas companies and its public supporters have maintained for a long time that economic growth depends on oil, gas, and coal. But research shows that in the name of financial development, they have in fact favored profit and profits unchecked, breached entitlements with almost total impunity, and harmed the air, ecosystems, and oceans."

Global Negotiations and Global Urgency

Cop30 is held as the Philippines, Mexico, and Jamaica are dealing with extreme weather events that were worsened by increased air and sea temperatures, with states under mounting pressure to take decisive steps to regulate oil and gas firms and stop extraction, financial support, licenses, and consumption in order to comply with a significant judgment by the global judicial body.

Last week, disclosures revealed how more than five thousand three hundred fifty oil and gas sector advocates have been granted admission to the United Nations environmental negotiations in the last several years, obstructing environmental measures while their paymasters drill for record quantities of oil and gas.

Study Process and Data

This data-driven study is founded on a first-of-its-kind location-based effort by researchers who analyzed data on the known locations of fossil fuel infrastructure locations with census data, and collections on essential environments, climate emissions, and native communities' areas.

One-third of all functioning petroleum, coal, and gas facilities coincide with multiple critical ecosystems such as a wetland, woodland, or waterway that is rich in species diversity and critical for emission storage or where ecological deterioration or catastrophe could lead to habitat destruction.

The actual international scale is likely greater due to omissions in the reporting of coal and gas sites and restricted census records in nations.

Environmental Inequity and Indigenous Peoples

The findings reveal deep-seated ecological injustice and racism in contact to oil, gas, and coal mining industries.

Native communities, who account for five percent of the world's people, are disproportionately vulnerable to dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure, with one in six facilities situated on Indigenous areas.

"We face long-term battle fatigue … We physically will not withstand [this]. We are not the initiators but we have endured the brunt of all the violence."

The expansion of coal, oil, and gas has also been associated with property seizures, heritage destruction, social fragmentation, and economic hardship, as well as force, internet intimidation, and court cases, both criminal and civil, against community leaders non-violently resisting the construction of conduits, mining sites, and additional infrastructure.

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