Greenpeace: Big Oil's 2024 Profits in the billions as Global South continues to unfairly pay for climate disasters

BEIRUT, LEBANON, March 5, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- As climate disasters escalate and countries lag in meeting their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) -the plans by which they commit to reducing their national emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change-, the world’s largest international oil and gas companies have once again declared staggering annual profits.

The profits of five of the biggest international oil companies, ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, TotalEnergies, and ENI, reached around 90 billion dollars in 2024. The gigantic earnings of these companies are a direct result of their relentless expansion of fossil fuel extraction. Instead of reinvesting in equitable renewable energy solutions, major international oil companies have funneled their profits into stock buybacks, shareholder dividends, greenwashing campaigns, and further backtracking on their climate commitments.

Kenzie Azmi, Campaigns Lead for Stop Drilling, Start Paying at Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa (MENA), commented:

“International oil companies continue to rake in billions in annual profits, fueling the climate crisis, as local communities in the MENA region pay the price with their livelihoods and their lives. The 2024 Regional Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction in the Arab Region highlights that the region is facing escalating climate-related risks, with temperature increases accelerating at +0.5°C per decade. This is exacerbating wildfires, water scarcity, crop failures, and extreme flooding events, such as the 2024 flooding and windstorms, which left more than half a million Yemenis severely impacted.”

Meanwhile, governments worldwide continue to fall short, not only in meeting their existing climate pledges but also in setting new ones. Only 15 of the 195 countries met the 10 February 2025 deadline to communicate their 2035 NDCs to the UNFCCC Secretariat. This delay plays directly into the hands of the fossil fuel industry, which thrives on inaction and loopholes that allow them to continue drilling, polluting, and profiting.

Azmi pointed out, "Rich developed countries continue to drag their feet on providing the essential funds for the Global South’s renewable energy transition, climate adaptation, and compensation for climate-related destruction, pretexting a lack of money to excuse their inaction."

"It is time for our leaders to hold them accountable and demand they unlock the necessary climate finance and settle their climate debt by making their biggest polluters pay," Azmi concluded.

Hiam Mardini
Greenpeace MENA
+961 71 553 232
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