Fossil fuels harm health throughout their lifecycle, including extraction, processing, transport, combustion, petrochemical production, waste, and site abandonment. They pollute air, water, soil, and food systems; expose workers and communities to toxic substances; drive climate change; and contribute to disease, premature death, displacement, mental health issues, and social disruption. Focusing solely on carbon emissions or combustion overlooks significant harms, including spills, toxic waste, occupational exposure, abandoned infrastructure, and long-term contamination. Fossil fuels should be recognized as health-harming products, not just energy sources.

Fossil fuel pollution can affect nearly every part of the body. Exposure to pollutants and toxic chemicals is linked to respiratory and heart disease, stroke, cancer, neurological and reproductive harm, pregnancy complications, kidney and liver damage, and immune and developmental impacts. These effects may appear immediately or develop years later, especially in cases of cancer, chronic disease, and developmental issues.

No. While air pollution is a major and visible impact, it is only part of the issue. Fossil fuels also contaminate water and soil, release toxic chemicals, drive climate change, increase heat and disaster risks, cause spills and explosions, undermine livelihoods, and create social and mental health harms.

Fossil fuel activities release particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, ozone-forming pollutants, volatile organic compounds, benzene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals like lead and mercury, and persistent chemicals such as PFAS. Many of these substances remain in the environment for decades and accumulate through water, soil, food chains, and repeated exposure.

Everyone is affected, but the burden is not equal. Communities near mines, refineries, power plants, ports, highways, pipelines, petrochemical facilities, waste sites, and flaring zones face much higher exposure. Children, pregnant women, older adults, workers, Indigenous peoples, low-income and racialized communities, and those with existing health conditions are at greatest risk.

Children are especially vulnerable because their bodies, brains, lungs, and immune systems are still developing. Fossil fuel pollution is linked to asthma, lung damage, neurodevelopmental harm, childhood cancers, and impacts that begin before birth. Prenatal exposure increases the risk of adverse birth outcomes and congenital abnormalities. Exposure during childhood can affect health throughout life.

Fossil fuel projects can cause displacement, land conflict, human rights violations, corruption, weak governance, labor exploitation, violence, and economic instability. While communities are often promised jobs and development, they may instead experience pollution, loss of livelihoods, increased insecurity, substance abuse, trafficking, mental health crises, and long-term harm to social well-being.

Fossil fuels are the main driver of climate change. The resulting heatwaves, floods, storms, wildfires, droughts, food insecurity, infectious disease risks, and displacement all harm health. Climate disasters can also damage fossil fuel infrastructure, causing spills, leaks, fires, toxic releases, and disruptions to health services. This creates a double burden: fossil fuels drive the crisis and then worsen its health impacts.

Governments should halt fossil fuel expansion, end subsidies and public financing for fossil fuels, strengthen pollution controls, clean up contaminated sites, hold polluters accountable, protect workers and frontline communities, and invest in renewable energy, public transport, clean household energy, resilient health systems, and community-led health research. Health should be a central measure of any transition plan’s success.

Fossil fuel advertising and disinformation can delay action by misleading the public, downplaying health harms, and protecting the industry’s social license. As public health has challenged tobacco industry tactics, health institutions should help expose and counter fossil fuel misinformation, greenwashing, and conflicts of interest.

The health sector is responsible for preventing harm, not just treating disease after it occurs. Health professionals and institutions can document the health impacts of fossil fuels, support affected communities, advocate for phase-out and just transition policies, screen for fossil fuel conflicts of interest, reject fossil fuel-linked advertising and sponsorship, and lead by example through fossil-free procurement, investments, and communications.