As announcements by international oil companies of their annual profits start rolling in, beneficiaries may already be looking back smiling at 2023 whilst planning their next private-island holiday or real estate purchase. Yet the most lucrative year on record for oil and gas companies will be remembered by billions of us as the hottest year on record, punctuated by extreme weather events and the ever spiralling cost of living.
Growing up between two countries, Senegal and the Gambia, one need not be an activist or climate scientist to have first-hand knowledge of these crises. Detrimental impacts are being felt in all sectors of these countries’ economies, with irregular rains causing farmers indescribable anguish, as they lose their livestock because grasslands are turning into drylands. The climate crisis is a leading driver of desertification – a rapidly growing threat to water and food sovereignty – which pushes proud and self-sustaining communities into poverty. As a last resort, some are even pushed out of their homes and consider migration, risking their lives and adding to social and political tensions at home and abroad.
The answer to all climate-related weather events is two-fold: avoid further emissions of planet-heating gases and invest in local solutions. The annual profits of just six major oil and gas companies – BP, Chevron, Equinor, Exxonmobil, Shell, and Total – which collectively scooped up almost $140 billion, are made from our collective loss. Not only does their business cause destructive climate change contributing to land degradation, but their profits do little to address these impacts. These companies must be made to pay for the damage they cause and a pathway out of the climate crisis.
And then there’s the moral question: Is it right for just a single company to earn off pollution in one year as much as it would cost for Senegal to address land degradation impacts for decades, not to mention a host of other climate disasters? Anyone who isn’t lining their pockets will say no. Despite media framing around the economic wins of these international oil companies, there is another more critical story to tell. Ordinary people everywhere are being penalised for the financial gains of oil and gas and its backers – from soaring energy bills to climate-related loss and damage – it’s clear that their profits are our loss.
Consider these stark contrasts: The oil and gas industry’s cumulative profits for 2023 would certainly far exceed the economic cost of weather and climate events that year, and payouts are similarly expected to crash record levels as just the six companies mentioned above have already distributed over $127 billion to their shareholders. This surpasses a global goal of 100 billion dollars in climate finance which rich governments have committed to. Some of these costs – like the loss of loved ones, memories, cultural assets, connection to home, and ancestral ties that bind communities together – cannot be measured in numbers.
Polluters will never voluntarily stop drilling and start paying for the energy transition and the climate impacts they have caused, so we need governments to step up to force accountability and deliver justice. The fossil fuel industry knew of its climate impacts for decades, but have deliberately hidden or ignored the truth, discredited scientific evidence, and is rife with examples of broken laws in pursuit of its dirty business and enormous profits. Furthermore, the industry’s profits are overwhelmingly invested in new fossil fuel projects instead of a shift to renewable energy sources and in maximising shareholder profits.
Governments need to deliver a rapid and fair phaseout of all fossil fuels, and levy taxes on the fossil fuel industry for the costs associated with surviving the climate crisis. As a start, introducing a permanent excess profits tax on oil and gas producers and redirecting subsidies could generate substantial finance for climate action. The oil and gas giants and the climate crisis that they’ve caused are both global, therefore so should be our solutions. There’s an urgent need for international consensus on the application of the polluter pays principle. COP29 must deliver an ambitious needs-based global finance goal supported by rich countries, going beyond the previous $100 billion goal. The goal must also mark a turning point in expectations on the world’s largest polluting sectors, not least the fossil fuel industry, to pay towards the costs of climate action in developing countries.
To make such grand promises into reality, we know that politicians need to feel the heat. In 2023, hundreds of thousands of people marched worldwide – from Nairobi to Norway, from the Philippines to New York – called for a fast and fair fossil fuel phase out. 2024 will be the year when the oil and gas industry starts losing and we all start winning, and Greenpeace intends to be there to fuel the resistance and stand with those most impacted by the climate crisis.