This op-ed is a guest post by Julieta Biegner, U.S. Communications Officer at Global Witness.

Right now, we are beginning to experience a world that climate scientists have long warned we were risking. Raging wildfires and worsening storms are destroying homes, decimating communities, and polluting the air and water, all during a pandemic which disproportionately affects those living in polluted areas.

Even amid the pandemic, the U.S. fossil fuel industry has continued what it has always done: advance its own interests at the expense of people and the planet. The U.S. response to COVID-19 has enabled an insidious pattern of fossil fuel companies receiving government handouts, despite struggling long before the pandemic. Big Oil executives have walked away with millions of dollars in bonuses while the industry has lost over 100,000 jobs from February to August.