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25% of the international residents lives within 5km of active oil, gas, and coal projects, likely risking the health of over two billion human beings as well as vital ecosystems, according to groundbreaking research.

International Spread of Coal and Gas Sites

More than 18,300 oil, gas, and coal facilities are presently located across one hundred seventy states worldwide, taking up a extensive expanse of the planet's surface.

Nearness to wellheads, refineries, conduits, and other oil and gas operations elevates the threat of cancer, breathing ailments, cardiovascular issues, early delivery, and mortality, while also causing severe dangers to water sources and atmospheric purity, and harming terrain.

Immediate Vicinity Hazards and Planned Growth

Almost 463 million people, counting one hundred twenty-four million children, currently reside within 1km of fossil fuel sites, while another 3,500 or so proposed projects are now proposed or being built that could require over 130 million more people to face emissions, gas flares, and accidents.

The majority of functioning sites have created toxic hotspots, converting nearby communities and critical habitats into so-called sacrifice zones – highly toxic locations where low-income and marginalized communities carry the unfair weight of contact to contaminants.

Health and Natural Consequences

The study details the severe health consequences from mining, treatment, and shipping, as well as illustrating how spills, burning, and construction damage priceless natural ecosystems and weaken human rights – especially of those dwelling close to oil, gas, and coal mining facilities.

The report emerges as world leaders, not including the US – the biggest past source of greenhouse gases – gather in Belém, the South American nation, for the 30th annual global climate conference during growing frustration at the limited movement in phasing out oil, gas, and coal, which are leading to global ecological crisis and civil liberties infringements.

"The fossil fuel industry and their public supporters have maintained for a long time that societal progress needs oil, gas, and coal. But we know that under the guise of prosperity, they have rather favored profit and profits without red lines, violated liberties with almost total impunity, and harmed the atmosphere, natural world, and oceans."

Global Negotiations and Worldwide Pressure

The climate conference occurs as the the Asian nation, the North American country, and Jamaica are dealing with superstorms that were strengthened by higher air and ocean heat levels, with countries under mounting urgency to take strong measures to regulate oil and gas companies and halt extraction, financial support, permits, and consumption in order to comply with a significant judgment by the global judicial body.

In recent days, revelations indicated how more than 5,350 oil and gas sector influence peddlers have been given access to the UN global conferences in the last several years, hindering climate action while their employers pump historic amounts of petroleum and gas.

Research Process and Results

This data-driven research is derived from a innovative geospatial exercise by researchers who cross-referenced data on the known sites of fossil fuel infrastructure locations with census figures, and datasets on critical environments, carbon outputs, and native communities' land.

33% of all operational petroleum, coal mining, and natural gas facilities coincide with several critical ecosystems such as a marsh, woodland, or waterway that is rich in wildlife and important for carbon sequestration or where environmental degradation or disaster could lead to ecosystem collapse.

The real worldwide scale is possibly higher due to gaps in the recording of oil and gas projects and limited demographic data in countries.

Natural Inequality and Indigenous Peoples

The findings reveal entrenched environmental unfairness and bias in proximity to petroleum, natural gas, and coal mining operations.

Tribal populations, who represent 5% of the international residents, are disproportionately exposed to health-reducing oil and gas infrastructure, with 16% locations located on Indigenous lands.

"We face intergenerational struggle exhaustion … Our bodies won't survive [this]. We were never the instigators but we have endured the brunt of all the conflict."

The expansion of oil, gas, and coal has also been linked with territorial takeovers, traditional loss, population conflict, and loss of livelihoods, as well as violence, digital harassment, and legal actions, both illegal and legal, against population advocates non-violently opposing the building of transport lines, extraction operations, and further facilities.

"We are not seek profit; we only want {what