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One-fourth of the international residents lives less than five kilometers of operational oil, gas, and coal sites, likely endangering the physical condition of exceeding 2bn individuals as well as essential ecosystems, based on groundbreaking analysis.

Worldwide Presence of Coal and Gas Infrastructure

More than eighteen thousand three hundred oil, natural gas, and coal mining facilities are currently spread throughout over 170 nations globally, taking up a extensive expanse of the Earth's terrain.

Closeness to extraction sites, processing plants, pipelines, and other coal and gas operations raises the threat of cancer, respiratory conditions, cardiovascular issues, early delivery, and death, while also posing grave dangers to water supplies and air quality, and harming land.

Close Proximity Hazards and Planned Development

Nearly half a billion individuals, counting 124 million minors, now dwell within one kilometer of fossil fuel operations, while a further three thousand five hundred or so new sites are now under consideration or in progress that could force one hundred thirty-five million additional residents to face fumes, gas flares, and spills.

The majority of active projects have established contamination hotspots, turning nearby populations and critical ecosystems into often termed expendable regions – highly polluted locations where low-income and vulnerable communities shoulder the disproportionate load of exposure to pollution.

Health and Environmental Impacts

The report details the devastating physical impact from mining, refining, and transportation, as well as demonstrating how leaks, flares, and construction destroy priceless natural ecosystems and undermine civil liberties – especially of those dwelling close to petroleum, natural gas, and coal mining operations.

The report emerges as world leaders, without the USA – the biggest historical source of climate pollutants – assemble in Belem, the South American nation, for the 30th global climate conference during rising frustration at the limited movement in ending fossil fuels, which are causing planetary collapse and rights abuses.

"Coal and petroleum corporations and their government backers have claimed for a long time that societal progress needs fossil fuels. But we know that in the name of financial development, they have in fact favored greed and revenues without red lines, infringed liberties with near-complete exemption, and damaged the air, biosphere, and seas."

Environmental Negotiations and Global Demand

The climate conference occurs as the the Asian nation, Mexico, and Jamaica are suffering from major hurricanes that were worsened by increased air and ocean temperatures, with nations under growing urgency to take strong action to regulate oil and gas corporations and halt mining, government funding, authorizations, and use in order to follow a landmark decision by the global judicial body.

Last week, reports indicated how more than 5,350 coal and petroleum influence peddlers have been granted admission to the international global conferences in the last several years, blocking climate action while their paymasters pump historic amounts of oil and natural gas.

Study Methodology and Results

This data-driven research is derived from a groundbreaking mapping effort by researchers who compared data on the documented sites of coal and gas operations locations with population information, and datasets on critical environments, climate outputs, and Indigenous peoples' territories.

33% of all operational petroleum, coal mining, and gas locations overlap with multiple critical environments such as a wetland, woodland, or waterway that is rich in species diversity and important for carbon sequestration or where ecological degradation or catastrophe could lead to habitat destruction.

The true global extent is probably larger due to gaps in the recording of oil and gas projects and restricted demographic records across nations.

Ecological Injustice and Tribal Populations

The results show long-standing ecological unfairness and bias in exposure to oil, gas, and coal operations.

Native communities, who represent five percent of the international population, are unfairly subjected to life-shortening fossil fuel facilities, with 16% facilities situated on native territories.

"We endure multi-generational resistance weariness … Our bodies will not withstand [this]. We were never the instigators but we have endured the brunt of all the aggression."

The growth of fossil fuels has also been associated with territorial takeovers, heritage destruction, population conflict, and economic hardship, as well as force, digital harassment, and lawsuits, both penal and civil, against population advocates non-violently opposing the building of conduits, extraction operations, and other infrastructure.

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