Fossil fuels are both the leading cause of the crises we face and the primary reason we are not acting at the required scale. The entangled cluster of environmental, economic, social, and technological problems is referred to as the polycrisis, or the great unravelling. This is the subject of a report by the Post Carbon Institute’s Richard Heinberg and Asher Miller. They explain that humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels as a cheap and abundant source of energy has unleashed a wide range of adverse impacts that represent a dangerous turning point in the timeline of human existence.
As explained by Adam Hanieh, Professor of Political Economy and Global Development, our world is awash with fossil fuels. At the launch of his book Crude Capitalism, Hanieh said, “Oil isn’t just a fuel – we are literally surrounded by it”. Fossil fuels are everywhere. It powers our cars, trucks, and boats, it electrifies our homes and factories. They are in over 6,000 items, from technology to clothes and the fertilizer we use to grow our food. They are in our air, our water, and all living organisms, including us.
“Our fossil fuel addiction is a Frankenstein’s monster, sparing nothing and no one. All around us, we see clear signs that the monster has become master,” the UN secretary general, António Guterres, told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The ubiquitousness of petrochemicals led the BBC to conclude, that our world is “dominated by oil”.
The fossil fuel industry leverages its dominance to further entrench its power. It does this in part through multichannel disinformation initiatives that promote their dysfunctional narrative. This broken logic has seeped into our collective psyches and shaped the way we organize and understand the world. This grand subterfuge is reinforced by political corruption that gives the industry direct access to the levers of power. Together, this constellation of factors prevents us from apprehending and acting on the issues.
Brief history of fossil fuel consumption
“Fossil fuel consumption has increased significantly over the past half-century, around eight-fold since 1950 and roughly doubling since 1980.”
- Ritchie and Rosado (2017)
Fossil fuels have been powering our economies for over 150 years, but humans have been using oil for at least 5 thousand years. Crude bitumen was used to mummify corpses in Ancient Egypt and the Babylonians used it to waterproof boats and as mortar in building construction.
Although the ancient Romans used coal to heat public pools, it was not until the 1800s that coal was used on a massive scale to power the steam engines that drove the Industrial Revolution and transportation. China developed the first known oil well in the 4th century, but the modern oil industry was born in 1859 with the discovery of the world’s first commercially viable oil well in the U.S. In 1885 coal became a common heating fuel and gas began being used to power cars. The use of oil as a fuel source increased exponentially when Henri Ford began to mass-produce the Model T in 1908. After World War II, synthetics made from petrochemicals took over the manufacturing industry and demand continues to grow to this day.
As summarized by the internetwork for sustainability (iNS), fossil fuels are causing the world to fall apart: “During the 20th century, and especially the latter half of the century, humanity’s increasing adoption of fossil fuels as sources of cheap and abundant energy enabled rapid industrialization. The result was a massive increase in nearly all human activities and their ecological and social impacts…”
With few exceptions, fossil fuel use has consistently increased every year. The world currently gets approximately 80 percent of its energy from fossil fuels and petrochemicals are increasingly being woven into the fabric of our economy.
Adverse impacts of oil, coal, and gas
“Using fossil fuels for energy has exacted an enormous toll on humanity and the environment.”
- National Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Fossil fuels are driving climate change which is at the heart of many entangled elements of the polycrisis. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the extraction, refining, and burning of oil, coal, and gas, are driving up temperatures and pushing us to the brink. Fossil fuels are also the leading cause of air pollution that contributes to millions of premature deaths each year.
Our dependence on dirty energy is destroying the biosphere and pushing us ever closer to the end of civilization as we know it. A group of senior climate scientists recently warned that fossil fuels are causing the fabric of life on Earth to unravel. Their findings, subtitled “Perilous Times on the Planet,” were published in the journal BioScience (Ripple et al, 2024). They reference the large body of evidence warning that we are facing, “a global emergency beyond doubt,” leading them to conclude that we are headed toward, “system-wide synchronous failures” and collapse.
Global warming is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and wildfires. As Guterres explained, this is “just a preview of the horror movie to come.” A plethora of studies have warned us that we need to stop using coal, oil, and gas, or we will breach the upper threshold temperature limit (1.5-2C above preindustrial norms). We have already surpassed 1.5C faster than expected (Cannon, 2025) and our current trajectory will push us well past 2C, and risk triggering tipping points from which we will not be able to recover.
The math is irrefutable. Oil, gas, and coal are responsible for 1,814 billion tons of cumulative GHGs, or 70 percent of historical emissions since 1750. According to the UN, fossil fuels are by far the largest single contributor to climate change, accounting for over 75 percent of GHG emissions and nearly 90 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions.
Each year the level of atmospheric CO2 keeps increasing. The rate of this increase is 10 times faster than at any time in recorded history and much more quickly than anticipated by most climate models. As of February 2025, CO2 concentrations are 427 parts per million (ppm). To put this in context, the pre-industrial level of atmospheric CO2 was 280 ppm, while the safe upper limit is considered to be 350 ppm.
As Guterres stated, this is a crisis, “entirely of humanity’s making” and to address it we must phase out oil gas, and coal. “The fossil fuel era has failed,” the UN chief said, adding the fossil fuel industry is “incompatible with human survival.”
The facts are unassailable, and the physics are incontrovertible. The burning of hydrocarbons is antithetical to life on Earth. As the leading cause of the climate crisis and a major impediment to action, there is no alternative to ending our reliance on fossil fuels.
The fossil fuel industry continues to increase emissions
“Despite these warnings, we are still moving in the wrong direction; fossil fuel emissions have increased to an all-time high.”
Fossil fuels cause pervasive environmental, social, and economic harm, yet year after year production keeps increasing. Rather than work towards a transition away from dirty energy, petrostates are reneging on their climate commitments and ramping up production with no end in sight.
According to a recent report from Oil Change International, the fossil fuel industry has failed on virtually every measurable climate metric. Romain Ioualalen, at Oil Change International, said despite pledges to transition away from fossil fuels, “we have witnessed the opposite: new oil and gas projects are being approved around the world, in complete defiance of climate science.”
As reported by Argus Media, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said just over $1 trillion was spent on coal, gas, and oil in 2024, representing a 7 percent increase. This comes after a 9 percent increase in 2023.
Except for 2008, 2009, and 2020, oil consumption has been steadily increasing for decades. The IEA anticipates that oil will increase by 1.4 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2025 and 1.0 million b/d in 2026. By 2030, gas projects are set to grow 50 percent, injecting 10 gigatons of emissions by the end of the decade. Even coal, the dirtiest form of dirty energy, reached a new peak last year. Global coal consumption increased by 13 percent since 2015 and is expected to remain high for years.
There is no evidence to suggest that market forces will kill the fossil fuel industry any time soon. Consumption trends suggest the opposite is true, market forces are increasing consumption. According to the IEA, fossil fuels will be cheaper and more abundant going forward.
Even though 72 percent of people want a “quick transition” away from fossil fuels, the oil majors keep breaking production records and they plan to keep pumping oil with no end in sight. The industry will not voluntarily phase down fossil fuels and they will fight any effort to phase them out. Amin Nasser, CEO and president of the world’s largest oil producer, Saudi Aramco, made this point clearly when he declared, “We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas.”
Big Oil’s financial stranglehold
“Global prosperity has historically emerged from fossil fuels. But the stranglehold of fossil fuel giants, generously subsidized by governments and financially backed by banks, places short-term profits over the planet’s survival. This entrenched dependency stymies efforts to transition to a sustainable future.”
According to Precedence Research, fossil fuels were a USD 6.25 trillion industry in 2022 and that number is expected to reach USD 8.2 Trillion by the end of 2025, USD 11.22 Trillion by 2032, and USD 13.1 Trillion by 2034. While fossil fuels make some individuals, companies, and nations tremendously wealthy, this concentration of capital gives them immense power which they wield in nefarious ways.
The fossil fuel industry uses its overwhelming economic might to control the financial system and expand its influence. Hanieh expounded on the oil industry’s stranglehold on capitalism, saying, “the big fossil fuel companies cemented their power and created a system where crude oil products fuelled economic growth across all industrial sectors.” Petrochemicals have been injected into every facet of our lives and made our economy utterly dependent on hydrocarbons.
The fossil fuel industry benefits from the favorable financial flows of an economic paradigm that prioritizes profits and ignores environmental and social costs. While some banks had begun to move away from fossil fuels in 2021, many others continued to invest in dirty energy. In 2024, lured by the promise of lucrative returns, banks abandoned their climate commitments in droves and increased fossil fuel finance.
In addition to their environmental implications, investments in fossil fuels have adverse social and geopolitical implications, that run the gamut from racism to war. Investments in dirty energy also eat up vast amounts of capital, that could be funneled towards sustainable technologies.
Fossil fuel giants block climate action and oppose science
The industry is doing “everything they can to block climate action and keep us dependent on their products.”
- Naomi Oreskes, oil scholar and professor at Harvard University
The fossil fuel industry leverages its tremendous financial resources and pervasive influence to block climate action. This makes them both the cause of the polycrisis and the reason we are not responding. As explained by former Vice President Al Gore, the fossil fuel industry uses its “legacy network of political influence and wealth to stop progress” and fight climate legislation “tooth and nail”.
They weave elaborate webs of disinformation to obstruct climate action and protect their core business activities. They continue to actively undermine sustainability efforts especially the transition to renewable energy. As Hermann Scheer said, “our dependence on fossil fuels amounts to global pyromania, and the only fire extinguisher we have at our disposal is renewable energy.” Rather than increase their investments in clean energy the oil majors are walking away while walking back their climate commitments.
As global energy transition researcher Dan Cohn explained in a Guardian article, the public distrust of the fossil fuel industry is well warranted. “They have left no doubt that their pledges were deployed for cynical political purposes, only to be ditched when they no longer suited the industry’s strategic position,” Cohn said.
The fossil fuel industry has been at war with science for years. Big Oil’s efforts to block action include undermining scientific evidence linking the burning of hydrocarbons to climate change, sponsoring pseudo-science to cast doubt on legitimate science, and running campaigns to discredit climate science and scientists.
The industry leverages funding to control research in academic institutions. Big Oil also targets young children and the public education system, with devious pedagogical strategies that teach climate denial and deprive kids of a science-based climate education.
Climate disinformation, lies, and lobbying
Fossil fuel companies are running “massive mis- and disinformation campaigns [to slow the] transition away” from oil and gas.
The fossil fuel industry deceives the public to prevent governments from adopting science-based legislation. The facts are damning, so they lie to protect their social license to operate. This strategic mendacity was spawned in the 1960s when Big Oil’s internal studies revealed that their core business activities cause climate change. They made a conscious decision to conceal what they knew, and they developed elaborate strategies to obscure the truth and seize control of the narrative.
They cast aspersions on the need to end fossil fuel use. Initially, they did this by denying the veracity of climate change, then they began using discourses of delay to justify the ongoing extraction of hydrocarbons.
They also lie about the viability of efforts to address the crises we face. Although the economic logic of climate action is overwhelming, fossil fuel interests promote deceptions that portray climate action as too costly and too difficult. They fabricate pretexts to stay in business and advance false arguments to keep the investment dollars flowing.
As explained by Guterres, fossil fuel industry lobbying and the PR companies it employs are, “aiding, abetting and greenwashing”. Industry lobbying and greenwashing are part of wider efforts to advance false narratives, that obscure the facts. So, for example, they invest millions in deceptive campaigns designed to portray gas as climate-friendly and an environmentally responsible source of energy.
The fossil fuel industry funds legions of lobbyists including powerful organizations like API, and ALEC, as well as front groups like the Heartland Institute. They are also behind coercion schemes that involve bribery, doxing, intimidation, and astroturfing.
Political influence of the oil and gas industry
“Oil companies are now states – with a seat at the top table”
- Adam Hanieh, Professor of Political Economy and Global Development
As Big Oil’s power grew so did their efforts to corrupt government. There is no better illustration of this point than in the US where fossil fuel interests buy politicians and all but own the Republican party. In return for large donations, the GOP parrots the industry’s disinformation and they pass legislation supportive of oil and gas.
Big Oil partisans even dictate legislation to lawmakers, including self-serving tax breaks and subsidies that rig the game in their favor. The fossil fuel industry has also written legislation that criminalizes climate protest and state-level lawmakers influenced by Big Oil have passed legislation that outlaws protest altogether.
The fossil fuel industry uses its influence to foment political dysfunction and gridlock. They do this to subvert climate action and other efforts that are antithetical to its interests. Big Oil sews divisions and encourages antinomy and atomization as part of a wider effort to shape the social climate. This type of social engineering is misdirection meant to distract the public. It also confers a host of political benefits to their allies.
According to Harjeet Singh, the Global Engagement Director at the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative, these tactics have allowed governments, especially in rich countries, to get away with “consistently prioritizing” the interests of the fossil fuel industry over human welfare.
Political corruption makes it very difficult to challenge the fossil fuel industry’s dominance. This relationship led the Brookings Institute’s Samatha Gross to conclude that our biggest challenges are political.
Petrostates’ influence over the Cop process
“It’s not climate change that needs to be tackled. It is the political power of the fossil fuel industry.”
- Richard Denniss, Chief Economist at The Australian Institute
Petrostates and fossil fuel companies have taken control of global decision-making bodies. They have even managed to infiltrate the annual UN climate talks known as the Conference of the Parties (COP). Despite widespread calls to phase down fossil fuels, the oil and gas industry has hijacked the narrative and succeeded in pushing the issue off the agenda. As Al Gore said, “the fossil fuel industry and petrostates have seized control of the COP process.”
The last two climate conferences were hosted by petrostates. In 2023 COP28 was hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and an oil industry CEO was the president. In 2024, COP29 was hosted by Azerbaijan and a former oil industry vice president presided. The host country teamed up with Saudi Arabia and Russia to obstruct efforts to transition away from fossil fuels.
Allowing petrostates to host climate summits is an oxymoron. Petrostates and oil companies obfuscate and advance false solutions to justify ramping up production. There is no better example than the carbon capture ruse at COP28. Decarbonization of the oil and gas industry is a sinister plot of misdirection designed to obscure the fact that its core business activity is causing harm on a planetary scale.
Petrostates and oil companies know full well that what they are proposing is impossible yet they put forward deceptive pretexts to keep raking in massive profits. While technologies that capture or remove carbon are essential, they are not a panacea. Similarly, COP29’s focus on carbon offsets, while important, is designed to divert attention away from the need to reduce and eliminate fossil fuels. A 2024 report concluded COP 29 was overseen by “those with a vested interest in keeping the world hooked on fossil fuels”.
The urgent need to free ourselves of fossil fuels
“We can no longer tinker about the edges. We can no longer continue feeding our addiction to fossil fuels as if there is no tomorrow. For there will be no tomorrow…”
- Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
The fossil fuel industry’s influence peddling has been astonishingly successful. The political and social influence they have bought with their unrivaled financial power is extraordinary and they have been richly rewarded for their malfeasance and mendacity. Despite all the harm they cause, we can not seem to break free of the gravitational pull of such vast concentrations of wealth and power.
In a fiery speech at COP 29, Gore slammed the fossil fuel industry saying officials in the sector are, “way better at capturing politicians than emissions…We just have to decide how long the world is going to cower in front of the financial and political power of the fossil fuel industry.”
The savage irony of this situation is that the dirty energy industry has gotten filthy rich from destroying the planet upon which our economy and all life on Earth depends. They reap massive profits while ignoring the environmental and social costs of their activities. They prosper, despite being guilty of what Joëlle Gergis, Honorary Climate Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne, called, “an intergenerational crime against humanity.”
Our economy makes us dependent on fossil fuels and this is a harbinger of planetary destruction. To survive we must break free of the stranglehold of the old energy economy.
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