How Fossil Fuel Companies Profit from Genocide 


  • November 15, 2024
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“The fossil fuel industry is not just destroying our climate—it’s actively profiting from genocide”, said Oil Change International campaigner Allie Rosenbluth. She said that the U.S. continues to be a key supplier of JP8 jet fuel to Israel, which is crucial for its military operations. She added “This isn’t just business—it’s complicity in mass atrocities.”

 

Groundxero | Nov. 15, 2024

 

On 14 November, the fourth day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP29, in Azerbaijan, green groups highlighted how fossil fuel companies “enable and profit from Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” continuing “a long history of the industry’s complicity in mass atrocities worldwide.” Speaking at COP29, they highlighted how multiple systems of oppression converge to perpetuate violence against communities in Palestine.

 

The genocide in Gaza has caused humanitarian crisis at catastrophic levels: at least 41,870 Palestinians killed, 69% of which are women and children. Millions face displacement, severe deprivation of basic needs, and destruction of critical infrastructure. Experts exposed how major fossil fuel companies enable and profit from Israel’s genocide in Gaza, fueling colonialism, and continuing a long history of the industry’s complicity in mass atrocities worldwide.

 

“The fossil fuel industry is culpable in death and destruction around the world, not only through the climate crisis they cause but through the violence they fuel,” Oil Change International said in a statement on Thursday (14 November). The group drew attention to an aspect of the Gaza genocide often overlooked amid the staggering death and destruction wrought by Israel’s 13-month onslaught, which even a United Nations panel on Thursday said is consistent with the “characteristics of genocide.” Investor owned and private oil companies supply 66% of oil to Israel- more than a third (35%) of that from major oil companies like Chevron, Shell, and BP – despite genocide warnings from the International Court of Justice, said Oil Change International.

 

BP is among the top corporate suppliers of oil to Israel. It operates and is the largest owner of the BTC pipeline, which transports Azeri oil that is ultimately sent to Israel. An investigation by Energy Embargo for Palestine indicates how some of this oil is refined into jet fuel that supplies the Israel Defense Force (IDF). BP has also been granted gas exploration licenses in occupied Palestinian waters. By providing it with fuel, BP enables the Israeli government to commit genocide in Gaza.

 

Chevron operates and partially owns the two largest Israeli-claimed fossil gas fields, Tamar and Leviathan, making it the main international actor extracting fossil gas claimed by Israel in the Mediterranean. In 2022, 70% of Israel’s power was generated from fossil gas extracted by Chevron. Through the millions of dollars it pays Israel for its gas extraction licenses, Chevron is also directly contributing to financing Israel’s regime of genocide, apartheid, settler colonialism, and occupation.

 

Behind the Barrel: New Insights into the Countries and Companies Behind Israel’s Fuel Supply reveals continued and expanded oil supply fueling Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. This expansion has continued despite the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) opinion from January, stating Israel is plausibly committing genocide and Palestinians in Gaza have plausible rights under the Genocide Convention and from July, stating the occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful. “Countries, as well as oil and gas companies, must be held to account for their role in perpetuating violence and human rights abuses” said Oil Change International.

 

Mohammed Usrof, member of the Palestinian Youth Climate Negotiation Team, who lost 21 family members in March, said in a statement:

 

“The complicity of international corporations and governments in fueling Israel’s war machine represents the latest chapter in a long history of fossil fuel companies enabling genocide and mass atrocities. Every shipment of oil to Israel carries the weight of Palestinian lives.”

 

Mahmoud Nawajaa, general coordinator of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement for Palestinian rights, lamented that “criminal fossil fuel companies that have shamefully been invited to join COP 29 are not only responsible for destroying the planet–they are also responsible for fueling genocide and other atrocity crimes around the world, from Gaza to Myanmar to the Amazon region.” He pointed out that prime among these is Chevron–right now, as Israel continues its live-streamed genocide of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. Nawajaa appealed the climate activists and people of conscience around the world to join the global BDS campaign to boycott Chevron gas stations, fossil gas, and all other products immediately.

 

Abeer Butmeh, Coordinator of Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network – Friends of the Earth Palestine (PENGON FoE Palestine), said:

 

“Rich countries are claiming climate justice leadership while spending trillions on war and bombs. People in Gaza are facing one of the largest cases of genocide in the recent history. What we need is a total global energy embargo against Israel. Rich countries must fund climate justice, not genocide.”

 

“The fossil fuel industry is not just destroying our climate—it’s actively profiting from genocide”, asserted Oil Change International U.S. campaign manager Allie Rosenbluth. Rosenbluth said that the U.S. continues to be a key supplier of JP8 jet fuel to Israel, which is crucial for its military operations. She added “This isn’t just business—it’s complicity in mass atrocities.”

 

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