2024-09-27

EU / AFRICA / MENA – Five European oil and gas majors rank among the top 10 largest polluters in Africa and the Middle East when it comes to gas flaring, reveals this investigative series. These companies include Shell, BP, ENI, TotalEnergies and Perenco, as revealed by the Environmental Investigative Forum (EIF) and the media network European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), Daraj Media, SourceMaterial and Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism.

The consortium, supported by 14 other media partners, spent over a year investigating flaring emissions emitted across 18 countries between 2012 and 2022, in what is the largest investigation to date on this topic.

Flaring, which consists in burning natural gas as part of the fossil fuel supply chain, is a key driver of climate change and comes at catastrophic costs for local biospheres and populations alike.  

Using a hybrid approach that combined data work and field reporting, the consortium reveals that the flaring emissions are largely underestimated by the current international standards, and sometimes even underreported by multinationals themselves, such as BP, TotalEnergies and ENI.  

Oxpeckers, Daraj and their partners – Al-Mirbad, Twala and NIRIJ – used this unique dataset on gas flaring to estimate the key “super-emitting” licences and further document the disastrous  consequences for the local population in Angola, Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria.  

According to the World Bank and the U.S. Energy Information Administration, around 200 billion dollars of investments are needed to put an end to raw methane emissions and end routine flaring. This would make only 5% of the 4 trillions dollars of profits made by the global fossil fuel sector in 2022.  

Meanwhile, flaring continues. 38 millions tons of CO2 equivalent have been emitted worldwide in 2023, more than the annual emissions of a country such as France for the previous year.

Photo: A burning flare on the side of the road in Shaikan province, Iraq (c) Network of Iraqi Reporters for Investigative Journalism (NIRIJ) & DARAJ

Team members

Alexandre Brutelle

Alexandre Brutelle is a foreign reporter and freelance investigative journalist.

Alexandre Brutelle

Mais Katt

Mais Katt  is the EIF coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.

a smiling young woman with dark hair, 3/4 portrait

Fiona Macleod

Fiona Macleod is an investigative environmental journalist, founder of Oxpeckers (South Africa)

Fiona Macleod

Andiswa Matikinca

Andiswa Matikinca is an award-winning journalist based in South Africa. 

Andiswa Matikinca

Hala Nouhad Nasreddine

Hala Nouhad Nasreddine is a Lebanese journalist and the Investigative Unit Coordinator at Daraj Media.

Hala Nouhad Nasreddine

Léopold Salzenstein

Léopold Salzenstein is a freelance investigative data journalist based in the south of France.

Léopold Salzenstein

Neusa e Silva

Neusa e Silva is an experienced Angolan journalist.

Neusa e Silva

Hanene Zbiss

Hanène Zbiss is a Tunisian investigative journalist and trainer.

Stefano Vergine

Stefano Vergine is an Italian investigative journalist.

Stefano Vergine
Media

EIF

The Environmental Investigative Forum (EIF) is a global non-profit registered in France and specialized in environmental investigative reporting.

 Environmental Investigative Forum - EIF

Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism

Oxpeckers combines traditional investigative reporting with data analysis and geo-mapping tools to expose eco-offences and track organised criminal syndicates in Southern Africa.

Oxpeckers Center

Daraj s.a.l.

Daraj is an independent digital media platform (Lebanon) created by experienced journalists.

Daraj
Supported
€39,000 allocated on 23/11/2023
ID
ENV1/2023/315

PUBLICATIONS

FURTHER REPUBLISHED

COUNTRIES

  • Algeria
  • Angola
  • Cameroon
  • Chad
  • Congo
  • Croatia
  • Egypt
  • Equatorial Guinea
  • France
  • Gabon
  • Germany
  • Ghana
  • Iraq
  • Ivory Coast
  • Italy
  • Mozambique
  • Netherlands
  • Nigeria
  • Oman
  • Qatar
  • South Africa
  • Spain
  • Tunisia
  • UK
  • United Arab Emirates

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