This is how oil spills damage our environment

Oct 12, 2021

Staff and volunteers work to clean oil off a brown pelican at the International Bird Rescue center in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, United States, May 22, 2015

'In the immediate aftermath of an oil disaster, the effects on fish, sea birds, and other marine animals are often very visible.' Image: REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how SDG 13: Climate Action is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

SDG 13: Climate Action

this is a seal pup being rescued at Refugio Beach oil spill

A harbor seal pup rescued at Refugio Beach oil spill. (June 2015 - Refugio Beach, California) Image: USFWS

Have you read?

a diagram showing how oil can affect marine animals throughout their lifecycle

Oil can affect marine animals throughout their lifecycle. Image: Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium

a diagram showing how the Deepwater Horizon disaster was the biggest oil spill to affect US waters

The Deepwater Horizon disaster was the biggest oil spill to affect US waters Image: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Discover

What's the World Economic Forum doing about the ocean?

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.