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A quarter of the world's people lives less than five kilometers of operational coal, oil, and gas projects, likely risking the physical condition of over 2bn individuals as well as essential natural habitats, according to groundbreaking study.

Worldwide Presence of Coal and Gas Infrastructure

Over 18,300 oil, gas, and coal facilities are now located in over 170 states globally, occupying a vast territory of the world's land.

Proximity to extraction sites, processing plants, conduits, and additional coal and gas facilities increases the risk of cancer, respiratory conditions, cardiovascular issues, premature birth, and death, while also posing severe threats to drinking water and atmospheric purity, and harming land.

Close Proximity Risks and Proposed Expansion

Almost over 460 million people, counting over 120 million minors, presently dwell within 0.6 miles of oil and gas locations, while another 3,500 or so new sites are currently under consideration or under development that could require one hundred thirty-five million more residents to face pollutants, gas flares, and spills.

The majority of operational operations have created toxic hotspots, converting adjacent neighborhoods and essential ecosystems into referred to as disposable areas – severely toxic areas where low-income and vulnerable communities bear the unequal weight of exposure to pollution.

Physical and Environmental Impacts

This analysis describes the severe physical consequences from extraction, treatment, and transportation, as well as illustrating how seepages, burning, and building damage priceless natural ecosystems and compromise human rights – especially of those dwelling in proximity to petroleum, natural gas, and coal mining infrastructure.

The report emerges as world leaders, excluding the US – the biggest long-term source of greenhouse gases – assemble in Belem, the South American nation, for the 30th environmental talks amid growing frustration at the lack of progress in eliminating oil, gas, and coal, which are leading to environmental breakdown and civil liberties infringements.

"The fossil fuel industry and their government backers have argued for decades that economic growth needs fossil fuels. But research shows that under the guise of financial development, they have in fact promoted self-interest and profits without red lines, breached rights with almost total immunity, and damaged the atmosphere, natural world, and seas."

Global Talks and Worldwide Urgency

The environmental summit occurs as the the Asian nation, Mexico, and the Caribbean island are suffering from extreme weather events that were worsened by warmer air and ocean temperatures, with nations under mounting urgency to take decisive steps to control fossil fuel companies and stop extraction, government funding, licenses, and consumption in order to comply with a significant ruling by the global judicial body.

In recent days, disclosures revealed how in excess of five thousand three hundred fifty coal and petroleum advocates have been given admission to the UN environmental negotiations in the recent years, obstructing emission reductions while their sponsors drill for record quantities of oil and gas.

Research Approach and Data

This data-driven study is founded on a first-of-its-kind mapping exercise by experts who cross-referenced information on the documented locations of fossil fuel facilities sites with census information, and collections on critical ecosystems, greenhouse gas releases, and Indigenous peoples' land.

One-third of all functioning oil, coal, and natural gas locations overlap with several essential ecosystems such as a wetland, woodland, or river system that is rich in species diversity and vital for emission storage or where natural degradation or calamity could lead to ecosystem collapse.

The real international scale is possibly higher due to omissions in the reporting of coal and gas operations and limited demographic records in nations.

Natural Inequity and Native Populations

The data show entrenched environmental inequity and bias in proximity to petroleum, natural gas, and coal industries.

Native communities, who account for 5% of the international population, are unequally subjected to health-reducing coal and gas facilities, with 16% sites located on Indigenous lands.

"We face intergenerational struggle exhaustion … We literally will not withstand [this]. We were never the instigators but we have borne the impact of all the aggression."

The growth of coal, oil, and gas has also been linked with land grabs, cultural pillage, community division, and economic hardship, as well as aggression, digital harassment, and legal actions, both penal and non-criminal, against local representatives calmly opposing the building of conduits, mining sites, and additional operations.

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