Fossil fuel companies rake in the money while the planet burns

Irving, Texas - While prices at the pump have skyrocketed, fossil fuel companies have raked in huge profits – and their money-making moves are happening while the climate crisis ramps up.

Polluting fossil fuel companies are choosing profit over our planet's climate.
Polluting fossil fuel companies are choosing profit over our planet's climate.  © Collage: REUTERS & 123RF/potjanun

As climate change is hitting heavier than ever, 28 of the biggest fossil fuel firms earned almost $100 billion in the first three months of 2022, according to The Guardian.

That massive pile of profit is largely due to the skyrocketing price of oil, which is currently still above $100 per barrel.

Many of these companies are also the ones responsible for investing their billions into new projects to mine and extract oil and natural gas, which are ticking carbon bombs.

These new projects are set to completely wreck the environment and any chance of halting climate change before it passes the point of no return.


Fossil fuel companies see huge spikes in earnings

In 2022, some fossil fuel companies have already made gains of 100% or more compared with their first quarter of last year.

Shell, for example, has earned $9.1 billion, three times as much as its profit for the first quarter of 2021. ExxonMobil took home $8.8 billion, which is also a nearly three-fold jump from last year's profits.

Meanwhile, climate activists say the profits are disgusting, especially since the main reason we are in a climate crisis is the polluters sold and perpetuated by fossil fuel companies.

Instead of rewarding the main culprits of greenhouse gases, critics are calling for heftier taxation on the companies that are rolling in the dough while the world is on its way to rolling in the deep.

Cover photo: Collage: REUTERS & 123RF/potjanun

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