A new report released on Wednesday by the Amnesty International and Better Planet Laboratory (BPL), revealed that fossil fuel infrastructure poses risks for the health and livelihoods of at least 2 billion people globally, roughly a quarter of the world’s population.
The report said despite commitments made under international climate agreements and repeated calls by the UN to urgently phase out fossil fuels, government actions have been wholly inadequate.
Noting that Fossil fuels still account for 80% of the global primary energy supply, while the industry is intensifying efforts to exert undue influence in climate policy forums to prevent their rapid phase out.
Amnesty International disclosed that it partnered with Better Planet Laboratory (BPL), at the University of Colorado Boulder, for a first-of-its-kind mapping exercise to estimate the potential scale of global harm from existing and future sites for the production of fossil fuels.
The report, “Extraction Extinction: Why the lifecycle of fossil fuels threatens life, nature, and human rights,” demonstrated that the full lifecycle of fossil fuels destroys irreplaceable natural ecosystems and undermines human rights, particularly of those living near fossil fuel infrastructure.
Proximity to coal, oil and gas infrastructure has been proven, according to the report, to elevate risks of cancer, cardiovascular illness, adverse reproductive outcomes and other negative health outcomes.
The report revealed that at least 2 billion people live within 5km of more than 18,000 operating fossil fuel infrastructure sites distributed across 170 countries around the world.
Of these, it said more than 520 million are estimated to be children and at least 463 million are living within 1km of the sites exposing them to much higher environmental and health risks.
According to the report, indigenous Peoples are disproportionately exposed, with over 16% of global fossil fuel infrastructure sited on Indigenous territories. Saying that at least 32% of the existing fossil fuel sites mapped out overlapped with one or more ‘critical ecosystems.
It said the fossil fuel industry continues to expand, with more than 3,500 fossil fuel infrastructure sites either proposed, in development, or under construction globally. Noting that the BPL figures suggest that such expansion could put at least 135 million additional people at risk. Notably, the number of oil and gas projects is set to increase across all continents while the number of coal plants and mines is increasing mostly in China and India.
A Senior Data Scientist at BPL, Ginni Braich, who led the paper underpinning the report’s global findings, said “Governments have pledged to phase out fossil fuels, but we now have clear evidence showing new fossil fuel projects continue to expand preferentially in our most critical ecosystems globally. This is a direct contradiction with stated climate goals.”
Commenting on the Secretary General of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, said “The ever-expanding fossil fuel industry is endangering billions of lives and irreversibly altering the climate system. Until now, there had been no global estimate of the number of people who live in close proximity to fossil fuel infrastructure. Our work together with BPL reveals the scale of the massive risks posed by fossil fuels throughout their lifespan. Coal, oil and gas projects are driving climate chaos, harming people and nature
“This report provides yet more evidence of the imperative for states and corporate actors to ’defossilize’ the global economy to mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis on human rights. The age of fossil fuels must end now.”
Callamard said “States should be embarking on a full, fast, fair and funded phase out of fossil fuels, and a just transition to renewable energy produced in a manner consistent with human rights. Amnesty International urgently calls for the adoption and implementation of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“The climate crisis is a manifestation and catalyst of deep-rooted injustices. This report responds to the host nation Brazil’s vision for this year’s COP30 to be a forum for the meaningful participation of forest peoples, including Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities and civil society. Our report exposes the magnitude of climate and human rights harms associated with fossil fuel production across the world, illustrating the industry’s disparate impact on Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities and highlighting the resistance they are mounting.
“The fossil fuel industry and its state sponsors have argued for decades that human development requires fossil fuels. But we know that under the guise of economic growth, they have served instead greed and profits without red lines, violated rights with near-complete impunity and destroyed the atmosphere, biosphere and oceans. Against these continuing patterns, against the global fossil fuel political economy of repression, we must resist collectively and demand that world leaders deliver on their obligations and commitments. Humanity must win.”
The report was based on in-depth qualitative research conducted in partnership with Columbia Law School’s Smith Family Human Rights Clinic and consisting of interviews of more than 90 people, including directly affected individuals from artisanal fishing communities in Brazil (Guanabara Bay), Indigenous land defenders in Canada (Wet’suwet’en territory) and coastal communities in Senegal (Saloum Delta), academics, journalists, CSOs and government officials.
It also uses open-source data and remote sensing to corroborate and visualize findings. These were complemented by the results and conclusions of Amnesty International’s past research and ongoing campaigns against oil and gas giants in Ecuador, Colombia and Nigeria.
