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A quarter of the international population dwells inside 5km of functioning coal, oil, and gas sites, possibly risking the health of over 2bn human beings as well as vital ecosystems, according to groundbreaking research.

Worldwide Distribution of Coal and Gas Infrastructure

Over eighteen thousand three hundred petroleum, natural gas, and coal locations are currently distributed in one hundred seventy states globally, occupying a extensive expanse of the Earth's land.

Closeness to wellheads, processing plants, conduits, and additional oil and gas facilities elevates the danger of cancer, respiratory conditions, cardiac problems, premature birth, and death, while also posing serious risks to water supplies and air quality, and damaging terrain.

Nearby Residence Dangers and Planned Development

Nearly half a billion residents, including 124 million minors, now dwell inside 0.6 miles of coal and gas sites, while a further three thousand five hundred or so proposed sites are currently proposed or in progress that could require 135 million additional residents to endure fumes, flares, and leaks.

Most operational projects have formed contamination zones, transforming surrounding communities and vital environments into so-called disposable areas – heavily contaminated areas where low-income and disadvantaged communities shoulder the unequal weight of proximity to contaminants.

Health and Environmental Impacts

The report details the harmful medical toll from mining, refining, and transportation, as well as demonstrating how seepages, ignitions, and construction destroy unique natural ecosystems and compromise human rights – especially of those living near petroleum, gas, and coal mining infrastructure.

The report emerges as world leaders, without the US – the greatest historical emitter of greenhouse gases – assemble in Belém, Brazil, for the thirtieth environmental talks amid rising frustration at the lack of progress in ending oil, gas, and coal, which are causing global ecological crisis and civil liberties infringements.

"Oil and gas companies and its public supporters have argued for a long time that societal progress depends on coal, oil, and gas. But research shows that masked as financial development, they have in fact favored profit and earnings unchecked, infringed entitlements with almost total exemption, and harmed the climate, biosphere, and seas."

Climate Negotiations and Worldwide Pressure

The environmental summit is held as the Philippines, the North American country, and Jamaica are reeling from extreme weather events that were intensified by increased atmospheric and sea temperatures, with nations under mounting urgency to take firm action to control oil and gas corporations and halt extraction, financial support, permits, and consumption in order to adhere to a significant judgment by the world court.

Last week, revelations showed how in excess of 5,350 oil and gas sector lobbyists have been granted entry to the international climate talks in the recent years, blocking emission reductions while their paymasters extract historic amounts of petroleum and natural gas.

Research Methodology and Results

This data-driven study is based on a groundbreaking geospatial exercise by experts who compared information on the documented positions of fossil fuel infrastructure locations with census figures, and records on essential habitats, carbon outputs, and native communities' areas.

33% of all operational oil, coal mining, and natural gas sites overlap with one or more essential environments such as a marsh, woodland, or river system that is rich in species diversity and important for CO2 absorption or where natural degradation or disaster could lead to environmental breakdown.

The actual global scope is probably greater due to omissions in the documentation of fossil fuel projects and limited census data in countries.

Natural Inequality and Indigenous Communities

The data demonstrate long-standing ecological unfairness and bias in contact to petroleum, gas, and coal mining operations.

Native communities, who account for one in twenty of the world's population, are unfairly vulnerable to health-reducing fossil fuel infrastructure, with one in six sites located on Indigenous areas.

"We're experiencing long-term resistance weariness … We physically won't survive [this]. We are not the instigators but we have borne the force of all the violence."

The spread of oil, gas, and coal has also been associated with land grabs, traditional loss, social fragmentation, and income reduction, as well as violence, digital harassment, and legal actions, both illegal and civil, against local representatives calmly resisting the building of pipelines, extraction operations, and further facilities.

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