A new study calculated that the oil and gas industry has made more than $2.8bn (£2.4bn) a day in profits over the past half-century. In the second quarter of 2022, Exxon posted a profit of $17.9bn, the highest any publicly listed oil company has ever reported. Chevron hauled in $11.6bn, while Shell reported $11.47bn and BP $9.3 bn, its biggest windfall in more than 14 years.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, condemned the fossil fuel super-profits as “grotesque greed” and urged governments to tax firms’ huge windfalls, while reiterating that it was immoral for corporations to be making record profits at a massive cost to the poorest communities and the climate.