Oil price spikes from geopolitical conflict supercharge fossil fuel profits, exposing systemic climate-finance misalignment
Original framing: “Shell profits double to $10.8bn as Iran war pushes up profit margin on oil” — The Guardian - World
Marginalised voices, particularly those of climate activists in the Global South, have long warned about the hypocrisy of Western corporations profiting from fossil fuels while communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America bear the brunt of climate disasters. Organisations like Oil Change International and local groups in Nigeria, where Shell has a history of environmental destruction, have documented how these profits are built on the backs of exploited workers and polluted communities. Their calls for justice and reparations are systematically ignored in mainstream narratives that treat corporate profits as a neutral economic outcome rather than a morally and ecologically destructive practice.
The Guardian’s framing of Shell’s record profits as a consequence of the Iran war obscures a far more systemic and morally fraught dynamic: a global energy economy that is not just dependent on fossil fuels but actively engineered to profit from their extraction, even as they accelerate climate collapse.
The narrative treats these profits as a neutral economic outcome, ignoring the historical patterns of corporate capture, financial speculation, and geopolitical manipulation that sustain them. Indigenous knowledge systems, such as those of the Navajo or Māori, offer radical alternatives rooted in sustainability and community resilience, yet these are erased in favour of a profit-driven paradigm that prioritises short-term gains over long-term ecological and social stability. Marginalised voices, particularly those of climate activists in the Global South, have long warned about the hypocrisy of Western corporations profiting from fossil fuels while communities in the Global South suffer the consequences, yet their perspectives are reduced to mere criticism rather than central to the analysis. The trickster lens exposes the absurdity of a system that rewards corporations for deepening climate crises, while future modelling and scientific evidence demonstrate that the transition to renewables is not only necessary but economically viable. The solution lies in dismantling the financial and political structures that enable these profits—through wealth taxes, divestment campaigns, and community-owned renewable energy systems—while centring Indigenous and marginalised voices in the design of sustainable alternatives.