Major oil and gas corporations announced massive new quarterly profits while communities pay for costlier climate disasters.
Oil giants Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, and Total made nearly $60 billion in combined net profits in the third quarter of 2022. At the same time, communities across the country were forced to pay an ever steeper price for climate disasters made worse by the fossil fuel industry’s pollution, deception, and obstruction.
From devastating floods in Kentucky and Missouri to crippling heatwaves in Nevada and California and two major hurricanes in the Southeast, extreme weather and climate disasters have racked up billions of dollars in damage in the last three months.
While Big Oil executives and their shareholders lined their pockets, residents across the U.S. lost their lives, were forced out of their homes, and experienced untold pain and suffering from deadly weather events that are becoming intensified by climate change.
When Exxon’s former lobbyist was caught on tape last year admitting that the polluter had used “shadow groups” to fight climate science and oppose climate legislation, he added, “We were looking out for our investments, we were looking out for our shareholders.” In this most recent quarter, Exxon made its biggest quarterly profit ever, netting $19.7 billion in three months — two billion dollars more than the record profits net just last quarter.
A reminder: While Big Oil rakes in billions from fueling the climate crisis, the rest of us pay the price.