Oxfam International, a non-profit organisation, says six of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies are projected to earn $2,967 every second in profits in 2026.
Oxfam disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday ahead of the first global conference on ‘Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels’ scheduled to hold this week in Santa Marta, Colombia.
According to the organisation, the projected earnings represent an increase of nearly $37 million per day compared with the 2025 profits recorded by the six firms.
The companies named are Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies.
Oxfam said the firms’ combined projected fossil fuel profits for 2026 stand at $94 billion.
The amount, according to the organisation, would be enough to provide solar power for the energy needs of nearly 50 million people in Africa.
The statement said new polling commissioned across seven countries found that three times more citizens support increased government investment in renewable energy than expanding fossil fuel extraction.
It added that about 68 percent of respondents backed higher taxes on the profits of major oil and gas corporations to help fund the transition to clean energy.
“Currently, families around the world continue to be pushed into energy poverty as geopolitical instability, the impacts of escalating violence in the Middle East that has already taken many lives, and the sharp increase in the wealth of the super-rich in contrast to everyone else is leaving ordinary people struggling to make ends meet,” Oxfam said.
“A huge proportion of the profits from fossil fuels are going straight into the pockets of the wealthiest 1 percent, based mainly in the Global North, who are profiting from the subsequent climate destruction these corporations cause while working to maintain global dependence on fossil fuels by monopolizing wealth and political influence.”
Mariana Paoli, climate policy lead at Oxfam, said taxing wealthy polluters is essential to achieving a fair energy transition.
“A just transition away from fossil fuels must support people in poorer countries, who face the brunt of climate disasters while their governments are forced to spend more money on repaying debts than on education or health, let alone climate adaptation,” Paoli said.
“Taxing the richest polluters who have no intention of investing in a clean future is central to a just transition.”
Oxfam urged governments meeting in Santa Marta to scale up public climate finance, reform sovereign debt systems, place justice at the centre of the energy transition, and adopt an equity-based roadmap to phase out fossil fuels.
