Fossil fuels are formed from the decomposition of buried carbon-based organisms that died millions of years ago. They create carbon-rich deposits that are extracted and burned for energy. They are non-renewable and currently supply around 80% of the world’s energy. They are also used to make plastic, steel and a huge range of products. There are three types of fossil fuel – coal, oil and gas.
Why is it bad for the environment to burn fossil fuels?
When fossil fuels are burned, they release large amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the air. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide trap heat in our atmosphere, causing global warming.
Already the average global temperature has increased by 1°C, and global temperatures passed the critical 1.5°C milestone for the first time in 2024. Warming above 1.5°C risks further sea level rise, extreme weather, biodiversity loss and species extinction, as well as food scarcity, worsening health and poverty for millions of people worldwide.
What are the effects of fossil fuels on climate change and our planet?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an intergovernmental body made up of the world’s leading climate scientists and experts, has found that emissions from fossil fuels are the dominant cause of global warming. In 2023, 90% of global CO2 emissions came from fossil fuels.
Coal is a fossil fuel, and is the dirtiest of them all, responsible for over 0.3°C of the 1°C increase in global average temperatures. This makes it the single largest source of global temperature rise.
Oil releases a huge amount of carbon when burned - approximately a third of the world’s total carbon emissions. There have also been a number of oil spills in recent years that have a devastating impact on our ocean’s ecosystem.
Natural gas is often promoted as a cleaner energy source than coal and oil. However, natural gas is still a fossil fuel and accounts for a fifth of the world’s total carbon emissions.
What will be the effects on the environment if we keep burning fossil fuels?
If we keep burning fossil fuels at the rate we are now, global temperatures will continue to rise and our planet and all of us who live on it will face serious consequences. The IPCC warns that fossil fuel emissions must be halved by 2030 if global warming is to be limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, a key threshold for protecting biodiverse ecosystems like coral reefs and limiting a rise in extreme weather events.
In 2015, the world’s governments signed up to the Paris Agreement committing to reduce carbon emissions. However, a recent report by the UN Environment Program shows that globally, we are on track to produce more than double the amount of coal, oil and gas by 2030 than we can burn if we are to limit global warming by 1.5°C. Clearly, more still needs to be done, especially considering the United States’ withdrawal from the agreement in 2025.
What is the role of fossil fuel companies in the future of our planet?
Fossil fuel companies remain huge polluters, producing and selling fossil fuel products while scientists say we need a mass switch to renewable energy and efficiency. They can also go to great lengths to shirk liability for their climate-harming actions.
For instance, instead of plugging up unused oil and gas wells as they are legally obligated to do, fossil fuel companies have abandoned millions of polluting, toxic wells across the United States. These ‘zombie wells’ emit methane at 100 times the rate of wells that have been plugged, creating a disaster for the climate and human health.
That’s why, in 2024, we brought a class action lawsuit to hold oil and gas companies accountable. We’re representing a group of Coloradans who have been directly affected by oil and gas companies that have abandoned wells on their properties without cleaning them up and making them safe.
If our ongoing court action is successful, it will not only result in the long-overdue plugging of hundreds of wells covered by this case in Colorado — communities burdened with abandoned wells nationwide would have a new avenue for pursuing oil and gas companies for clean-up costs.