The Free

The World Is Burning, but Fossil Fuel Companies Secretly Met to ‘Future-Proof Gas’. This Should Be Criminal.

from thefreeonline 0n 5th April 20223 By Lisa Göldner at DeSmog

“I want the fossil fuel industry to stop breaking the law and pay for their crimes against people and the planet.”

Olive trees burn during a wildfire in Greece. As drought and heat continue with rising greenhouse gas emissions, more wildfires are expected in years ahead. Credit: milos bicanski / Climate Visuals Countdown

By Lisa Göldner, Lead Campaigner from Greenpeace Germany for the Fossil Free Revolution campaign

France, Nigeria, Finland, South Sudan, Italy, Peru, Romania. What do all of these places have in common? They are just some of the countries in which Europe-headquartered fossil fuel companies stand convicted or credibly accused of criminal, civil, or administrative offences.

The history of fossil fuels is a litany of criminal accusations, from corruption and bribery to human rights violations and even complicity in war crimes. Most of us only hear about fossil fuel crimes in the news.

But for many, the industry’s law-breaking is a cold and hard lived reality, especially for people in climate-vulnerable communities and in the Global South.

The proof? Greenpeace Netherlands has compiled The Fossil Fuel Crime File: Proven Crimes and Credible Allegations, a sample of 26 proven or credibly alleged criminal and civil offences committed by 10 of the most powerful European fossil fuel majors, from 1989 to the present day.

The file shows the extent to which unlawful activity is baked into the fossil fuel industry’s DNA and finds that, of the offences compiled, corruption was the most common in the industry.