Written by: Noorulain Adeel

Edited by: Ayesha Imtiaz 

Climate change is considered one of the most important environmental challenges of today. It is an undeniable calamity atop our heads, the essence of which cannot be ignored further. Everything around us, even our actions, contribute to climate change. So it’s no surprise that the fossil energy companies such as oil companies have a lot to contribute as well.

Firstly, let’s talk about the elephant in the room; oil spills. Because of the inadequacy of a company, resulting in an oil spill, mostly into the ocean, our marine ecosystem is under a threat. In light of the recent oil spill in Russia, let me tell you more about how all this affects our marine life. Oil destroys the water-repelling ability of a bird’s feathers, exposing them to the harsh element, along with destroying the insulating ability of fur-bearing mammals.

Secondly, burning fossil fuels is already making our emissions skyrocket. As I’m sure we all know, when fossil fuels burn, they release carbon dioxide into the air, that is, a greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases trap the heat in our atmosphere. This further warms up our planet hence resulting in global warming. A recent survey shows that 62% of the total carbon dioxide emissions into the air are a result of burning fossil fuels, so it is not to be taken lightly.

In conclusion, most companies get away with not following their corporate social responsibilities, which show that in producing whatever they want, the corporation must keep in mind the environmental repercussions of that production process, hence they must keep up their end of the responsibility they owe the public. Furthermore, most if not all the investor-owned fossil energy companies need to reduce emissions, exercise transparency with their shareholders about the environmental risks they take, and come up with a way to counter that effectively. Countries also need to follow the targets laid out by the Paris agreement, which clearly state that countries must work towards reducing emissions and burning less oil. Only then can we be sure that we’re leaving a better world for our future generations.