Europe’s 9 biggest oil and gas companies alone could cause 360,000 temperature-related premature deaths, Greenpeace report claims
Global heating caused by greenhouse gas emissions from Europe’s nine biggest oil and gas companies could cause an estimated 360,000 people to die prematurely, according to a new study from Greenpeace Netherlands released at COP28 today.
The study analyses the self reported greenhouse gas emissions of nine major European oil and gas companies: Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, Equinor, Eni, Repsol, OMV, Orlen and Wintershall Dea.
Their collective emissions of 2.7 billion metric tonnes of CO2 from 2022 alone could collectively cause 360,000 temperature-related premature deaths before the end of the century, the report claims.
“Are fossil fuel companies getting away with murder? Just one year of emissions will create deadly ripples until the end of the century,” says Lisa Göldner from Greenpeace’s Fossil Free Revolution campaign.
“Phasing out fossil fuels is a matter of life and death, so governments need to act now to ban new fossil fuel projects and force fossil fuel companies to rapidly cut their emissions.”
Panellist at the presentation of the report in Dubai and Ugandan climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate said, “Fossil fuels are key to environmental destruction, especially for people in the Global South.”
“It’s no secret that burning more oil and gas worsens climate breakdown – and right now, they are already harming people’s lives in Uganda, where I’m from, in communities across Africa, and all over the world.”